#and by that i mean i know more country than they know hip hop or r&b etc
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deathtodickens · 2 years ago
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No B&W tonight because it was my friend’s birthday and we went to a rodeo.
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goquokka00 · 5 months ago
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The Little Things (Jisung Ver.)
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The small things he does every day that make you feel oh, so special.
Bangchan | Minho | Changbin | Hyunjin Jisung | Felix | Seungmin | Jeongin
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| Compares Hands |
Jisung is one of those people where I just get the vibe where he'd be one to regularly compare his hands to yours. Why? I don't know. But I just get the feeling that whenever the two of you are cuddling, Jisung's got your hand in his, and he's just...comparing them.
Your hands are so different compared to his. They're smaller, so much more feminine. They're so soft, probably because you use that one lotion you hidden from him every day on them. They're nothing like his, which we've seen pictures of them and dear GOD, his hands are absolutely fine. They're veiny and long, they're probably rough, but are just so gentle.
A lot of times, Jisung will take your hand and place it against his to directly compare them. And he'll comment on it, too. "Your hands are so cute, baby," or, "Our hands look so perfect together." They're never bad comments, he just likes to tell you how he feels.
| Shares Earbuds |
This is probably a given. Jisung loves music, and we all know this. And that means he's open to hearing a whole variety of music, mainly to help inspire him for songs for Stray Kids. Where else is better to get that than from the person he loves the most?
If you guys are ever out in public or walking around, Jisung will almost ask for an earbud so he can listen to whatever you're listening to. It doesn't matter what you're music tastes are, either. Kpop, rock and roll, pop, country, hip hop, rap, indie, latin, jazz, he'll listen to it all. And if he recognizes the song, he'll happily sing the lyrics.
There are other times where Jisung will want to share his earbud with you, too. I feel like he wouldn't play any spoilers for upcoming albums (Bangchan would murder him alive), but he'd play music that he listens to regularly, wanting to expand your own horizons. As a bonus, I also think that the two of you would make one big playlist of both of your favorites, and you'd listen to that together a lot.
| Holds Your Arm |
Jisung really likes to be close to you at all times. And that means that whenever you two are shopping, or going to different places outside of JYPE or your work area, or even the apartment, there are times where his arms are wrapped around whichever arm of yours is closest to him. Sometimes your arms are linked, but other times, he's clinging to your arm.
I do have a strong feeling that he'd mostly do this if his anxiety was acting up. If he was starting to spiral because of crowds, or his thoughts were overwhelming him because of work, he'd cling to you to try and ground himself. And of course, you'd be there to comfort him.
He'd probably apologize for it. He'd feel bad because you'd have to put up with him like that. But you really don't care. You'd gently rub his hand, keeping it there while guiding him to a less populated area so you two could chill and just breathe. And while he'd feel guilty, Jisung would be so grateful for it.
| Back Hugs in the Morning |
I've said this once in my first ever post, and I'll happily say it again. I am a firm believer of Jisung not being a morning person at all. The late nights down at the studio, writing songs for hours until the early hours of the morning just drain him, and getting up is quite literally a chore in Jisung's mind.
And so, while you're probably making breakfast, I think that Jisung would be the kind of person to come up behind you and pull you back against his chest, the man still half-asleep as he rests his head on your shoulder. He refuses to talk, as it takes too much energy. And so all you get are grunts, hums, and any other noises he decides to make.
Jisung will just cling to you for as long as he needs. If you need to walk to a different area of the kitchen while you're cooking, Jisung will just follow you, not giving you any space whatsoever. Even when he's finally awake and alert, he's not letting you go. At least, not until he gets his good morning kiss.
| Spoils You |
Guys, I kid you not, Jisung will buy you anything and everything you want. You want food from that one restaurant you went to a few weeks ago? Done. You spotted a sweater that you really like? It's yours. You need something for a hobby of yours? Say no more. As long as you're happy, Jisung's happy.
It doesn't even matter how expensive it is. Nothing is too expensive if it's for you. You can complain all you want, too. You don't want him to spend all of his money on you? Too bad. You're happy with just being his? Yeah, but Jisung wants to make you even happier.
I also have this irk that Jisung would buy you souvenirs from wherever he travels to. If it reminds him of you, he'll buy it for you and then give it to you once he gets back to South Korea. And I'm not kidding you, this man would be like so giddy as he watches you react to each and every single gift. He just loves to spoil you beyond belief, and he will NEVER stop.
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Hey! Firstly, thank you so much for reading this post, and I really hope you enjoyed! If you did, please like, reblog, or comment so I can see how I'm doing with writing and getting feedback! I hope you have a lovely day! Sleep well, stay in good health, and eat something if you haven't! ❤️❤️❤️
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tsatsked · 3 months ago
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Lore details I've noticed: Farewell Rayashki event
As always that's mostly Russian/USSR/Slavic stuff and some translations, feel free to add anything. I've also made a post about Silver Knot lore details
Obviosly, spoiler warning
Alenka - a USSR chocolate type produced since 1965, they are quite soft and sweet and still popular among kids and adults
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The playground is quite typical for the time period. The drawings and sunflowers might be Vila’s and kids’ work. It’s not very clear if the graffiti is made by someone inspired by hip-hop culture or is August’s failed attempt at scribbling out his name, judging by “А” and “Г” as 1st and 3rd letters. The only thing I’d add here is more scraped parts recycled into playground constructions
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Ijirak, Kikituk, Qiqirn - creatures from Inuit folklore (as far as I know they are not known in native Siberian folklore). I haven’t found information about Hoituk
The Russian word for “most” means “best” in the phrase “the most “most”” (“самый-самый”)
“It was only by luck that we found the runium. For over 60 years, people here have worked together to make it what it is now” - Vila. If the events happen in 60s-80s (judging by the overall vibe), than the last time reverse was at 1977 and Rayashki started to grow from a village to a town at 1917 or later. It means the town exported runium for all the Soviet years.
⬆️ EDIT: Silver Knot (Windsong's story) confirms it actually happens in 80s-90s
Most of the sighs say “For Better Future”, “Welcome to Rayashki” and “Welcome Zeno’s Military Institute”
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The room in which Windsong stays is Soviet af. There are an old TV with a lens, cool bookshelf and tiles that surprised me. They’re common for public and liminal spaces but not so much for the living ones. Maybe they’re chosen because they endure harsh Artic climate better that wood or linoleum
EDIT: the TV looks like KVN-49 model, produced in 1949—1962
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“It must be Kikituk! But their closest habitat should be Kong Kalrs Land, hundreds of kilometres away”. Kong Karls Land - a group of island of Svalbard archipelago, Norway. As @vingler-mirror point out in their post, Rayashki is likely based on Pyramiden town owned by USSR on the same archipelago
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Природа это числа и черты - “Nature is numbers and lines” Природа это мозаика цветов - “Nature is a mosaic of colours”
“Mutant Kikituk from Olga area! You should be at the Olga Strait, hunting for migrating salmon and whales, not here!” - excuse me OLGA STRAIT!? THE ONE NEAR JAPAN!?
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Poneva/ponyova - an element of Russian (Eastern Slavic?) female clothing worn on top of the main skirt of the dress. I believe there was either a mistranslation in Needles and Loaves message where Raisa said “poneva dress”, either she meant the whole outfit
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Samodiva - Their name is feminine and can be roughly translated as “self-wonder”, but that’s another word for vila the creature from Western and Southern Slavic mythology similar to Eastern Slavic rusalka/mavka
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Other stuff I’ve noticed:
The town seems to have a big arcanist population, if not most of them are arcanists. An arcanist right is applicable to them and all Vila’s known students are arcanists (if the kids are arcanists, their parents and grandparents are arcanists too)
The people of Rayashki seem to come from different places, and it makes sense with Pyramiden's history (EDIT: the workers were mostly from a western region of Ukraine). Pasono’s first name seems to be obscure and I’ve found only a surname mostly known in America. Patrik’s name is more popular name in other countries, and it make me to believe his ancestors might be foreigners. Bogina’s name comes from Southern Slavic languages
Rayashki is very communistic compared to the rest of USSR. Maybe it’s the town’s history, citizens’ temperament, small town’s size, seclusion and big self sufficiency combined. EDIT: the town's athmosphere conctasts with the period of USSR where people start feel more positive about the world around and capitalism with it
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apollyonsdarksecrets · 1 year ago
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Actions and Consequences
Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven
Summery: She’s reserved, emotionally cut off, and spiraling down a dark path; one she can’t get out of on her own. Aaron Hotchner may be her only help, but at what cost? When he shows up to her hotel room, contact in hand, she realizes it may be more than what she bargained for.
Warning: 18+ Only MDNI SMUT. Language, BDSM, Dom Aaron, emotionally detached reader, typical CM violence, childhood trauma, abusive father figure, age gap (reader 25 Aaron 40) doesn’t line up with a specific time line, use of Y/n because story is set in 3rd person for the first half then switches POV, last name for reader is Smith,
Specific Chapter Warnings: implied sex (between reader and ex-boyfriend) past boyfriend being rough and mean to reader, eating, official set up of dynamic and rules, a little bit of spicy for you guys 💋(hint)
7 Years Ago
“Two more weeks… I can’t believe it.” Y/n sighs, leaning her head against the shoulder of the boy laying beside her. He smiles, passing a hand over the top of her head, smoothing down her static hair.
“We’re going to be graduates… fuck it’s crazy.” She cranes her neck, smiling as she meets green eyes. He leans forward, pecking her lips quickly. “Alright, let me up. My moms gonna be home soon.” Y/n rolls over, taking the black sheet with her as he climbs out of bed, searching for his shorts.
“Good, I need to help her finish the desserts for your party tomorrow.” After months of hopping from one house to the next, Y/n has finally been able to settle into the guest bedroom of her boyfriend’s family home with what little belongings she owns. She sits up, letting the sheet fall around her hips as she snags her t-shirt and leggings off the floor.
“Oh yeah? What y’all making?” He tugs on his tank top, running his hand through his spiky blond hair as he eyes the naked expanse of her back.
Y/n shrugs, pulling on her shirt before slipping into her leggings. “Um I think a lemon cake.” The young man flops onto the bed and she laughs, laying back down beside him, her fingers twining together to rest over her stomach.
“I do like lemon.”
She rolls her eyes with a smile, “Trust me, everyone knows Trever.” He nudges her with his elbow and she laughs, a joy filled sound she’s finally getting use to.
“God, I can’t wait, finally get out of high school and we can just… do whatever. Well I mean I’ve got collage next fall but still.” Trever sighs blissfully before turning to look at his girlfriend. “Gonna come be my secret roommate? Get me in all kinds of trouble.”
“You wish,” Y/n scoffs, nudging him back. “You know my classes start a semester before yours.” Trever stays silent for a moment, Y/n staring up at the ceiling unaware of the change in his once easy expression.
“You’re still serious about that?” The question catches her off guard, her head turning to look at him. His face is pinched, like he can’t believe her. Y/n sits up, turning to face him fully.
“Y-yeah… Trever I’ve been serious about this. It’s the whole reason I work three jobs and bust my ass in school every week.”
He pushes himself up, leaning against his head board. “Look, babe, I’m not trying to be mean here but… do you really think you can do it? You’re talking about the FBI here… they don’t just take anyone. Especially…” He hesitates and her temper flares, her eyes narrowing.
“Especially, what?”
Sighing he gestures to her with a splayed hand, “Ya know… little country girls who don’t really know what they are doing. If you really want to work somewhere that makes you feel like you’re making a difference, why not go for something you’re almost guaranteed a job?” His expression shifts like he’s had the most brilliant idea, ignoring the obvious hurt growing across Y/n’s features. “911 dispatcher! You won’t even have to waste your money on-.”
“Fuck you.” She spits, standing and marching from the room, anger filling her chest to the point it almost hurts.
“Hey! Don’t talk to me like that!” Trever follows her out into the hallway, grabbing her by the shoulder as they reach the top of the stairs. She spins and shoves him, but he plants his feet, gripping her painfully by the shoulders. “Don’t you ever fucking talk to me like that again. Not in my goddamn house. You’re lucky my parents are even letting you stay here and you’re gonna act like that?” He shakes her harshly, her teeth slamming together making pain shoot up her jaw.
“At least your parents fucking believe in me! Your moms the one that paid off the rest of my entrance fee last week!” She struggles against him, her hands pushing at his chest but his fingers dig into her muscles. His face reddens but before he can say anything the front door swings open. A short, black haired woman stares up at them in confusion, her mouth open slightly.
Trever steps back quickly and Y/n moves down the stairs, keeping her eyes on her so-called boyfriend. “What is going on? I could hear you screaming from the front porch.” She closes the door behind her, her many bracelets tinkling with the movement as she sets her purse down on the landing.
“Nothing, Mrs. Dwayne.” Y/n says quietly, moving down the stairs until she is beside the woman. “I need to go to work…”
“I thought you were going to bake with me dear?” The sad look that passes across the older woman’s brown eyes makes Y/n’s throat constrict, that hated feeling of pinpricks forming in her nose. In the past five months of her relationship with Trever, Mrs. Dwayne has been nothing short of a mother figure to Y/n. Teaching her to cook, to clean, showing her the basic skills of life without so much as a disgruntled look. She didn’t want to hurt her now.
“I-I will.. I mean I am… I just. I need to go get something for work, I mean. I’ll be back.” Before Mrs. Dwayne or Trever can say a word Y/n is bolting out the front door, towards her run down car, rage and devastation simmering in her chest so heavily she can’t think anymore. The need to be anywhere but here propelling the car into motion.
She wouldn’t break down here, not where anyone could find her, when she’s alone she’ll let the tears run freely and her sobs fill the empty space around her.
Present Day
The rest of Tuesday had crept by silently, nothing like the first half of the day. You had joined Aaron for dinner in the dining room, where he informed you he had a few conference calls to make in the morning and he would check on you when he was done. That was many hours ago.
You had been awake long before the sun rose behind charcoal clouds, listening to the rain pelt your window relentlessly. You sit propped against your pillows, lost in deep thought… shameful deep thoughts. Most of your night was spent tossing and turning, what little sleep you did get wasn’t filled with the usual empty darkness, or the occasional bad dream; instead Aaron had taken up every unconscious thought.
You had dreamt of his hands on your body, much like the day before, only this time there was even less in between his burning palms and your skin. You could feel the reverberation of unheard words from his chest into your back, his hands slipping up, up, up cupping your breasts through your bra. His hips ground against your back, the buckle of his belt biting into your skin as his erection pressed against the swell of your ass. Then his palm began to travel lower, straight to your-
You shake your head fiercely, before smothering yourself with a pillow, groaning loudly. You stay like that for a few long minutes, desperately trying to ignore the ache between your thighs until it becomes to much. Throwing the pillow across the room you climb out of bed and head straight for the bathroom, determined a scalding shower would set your mind right.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Steam billows out of the room after you, a scratchy towel wrapped tight around your body, another holding your hair in place atop your head. The skin along the tops of your shoulders and breasts glow pink, having used the hot water liberally. You make your way over to the bags you had placed on the floor last night, grabbing the closest one and rummaging through it.
Something smooth and soft slips against your hand and you grab it, pulling it free of the wadded up clothing. Realizing you should really organize everything before it all becomes a wrinkled mess. Dropping the bag you unfold a Champaign colored silk night gown. It’s simple, a trim of lace adorns the bodice and it reaches about the middle of your thighs, a small slit up both sides. You can’t remember Aaron ever placing it in the cart otherwise you’d of protested.
A large part of you doesn’t want to wear it, or any of the clothing for that matter. That part was called shame. Shame that he had so easily talked you into letting him buy you all of these clothes, better yet talked you into this whole mess in the first place.
But another part of you, the one that really did not want to wear the same sweats again for the 8th day in a row, won the battle. With a defeated sigh you change into the gown. It’s hugs your body, accentuate your curves and clinging to your damp skin. It’s soft, comfortable, and smells clean, that’s all that matters to you.
You grab your over night bag, pulling out your iPod and headphones before crawling back into bed. You set up your computer to finish working, before pressing play on the little pink device and popping in an ear bud. Your phone buzzes on the nightstand only once, but you ignore it, instead typing away on your computer.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Morning slowly rolls into lunch, a half eaten croissant sandwich lays on your nightstand as you dutifully work, bobbing your head in time to the music.
‘What’s in your head, in your head? Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie-ie, oh’
Something connects with your door, the sound reverberating through the room making you scream. You rip out your ear bud, holding your breath as a series of knocks rattle your door, making your stomach swoop and drop all at once. Slowly you move from your bed to the door, unlocking it and pulling it open a crack. Aaron’s usual hard stare greets you, but his cheeks are tinged red, his lips pressed into a thin line. A shudder wracks through your body at the intensity of his stare, your palms feeling clammy against the door handle.
“Um… hi?” He doesn’t say a word as he wraps a hand around the door, forcing it open and you out of his way as he barges inside. “Hey!”he stops in the middle of the room, one hand on his hip and the other rubs at his forehead. He’s dressed in a darker pair of blue jeans this time, paired with a black collard shirt, probably more appropriate for his conference calls.
“Does your phone not work, or have you just been-.” Aaron turns then and whatever annoyed tyrant he was about to go on dies on his tongue at the sight of you. You’re standing at the door, eyebrows raised and eyes a little wide in panic, but it’s not your expression that stops him. His eye dip to your body, noticing what you’re wearing and something in his stomach stirs at the sight. The dress is stretched around your body, specifically across your stomach, an indent where your belly button is. Your hips are accentuated and he realizes with a small thrill that the fabric is just barely see through as he gaze travels from your breasts to your face.
“Fuck.” He breaths out, and a shiver skirts down your spine at the rumble of his voice, blooming into something warm and fuzzy between your hips. Aaron slowly makes his way to you, and this time you stay rooted to the carpet, your chin lifting and the back of your head bumping against the door as he stops a few mere inches in front of you. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
Aaron reached up, dragging his knuckle across your spaghetti strap, brushing across your collarbone where it stops on the curve of your neck. He cups the side of your neck, half of his palm resting against your jaw as his thumb sweeps back and forth. That warm and fuzzy feeling has caught fire, burning with a demanding intensity that leaves you reeling.
“My… My phone?” You ask absently, anything to change the direction of what might happen, his dark eyes snap to yours and you wish you had never spoken, anger and lust swirl together in his irises, his pupils dilated.
“Your phone,” He repeats, head tilting slightly as if he couldn’t quite remember what he came here for. “Were you ignoring me?”
You shake your head, then rethink his question. “Well… no not outright. I was working and in my head space, I remember my phone going off a few times but I honestly didn’t think about it.”
Aaron can only find honesty in the doe eyed look you’re giving him. “That’s two, sweetheart. You need to be more attentive.” Your eyebrows furrow, your soft gaze shifting to something hard as you glare up at the older man.
“Be more attentive? If you really needed me you could of just called. I was busy doing work, I still am.” You snap, gesturing towards your bed. He keeps his hand firm on your neck as he turns, glancing at your open laptop and he can faintly hear your music playing. “And what do you mean by two? Why do you keep counting?”
His thumb presses against the bottom of your chin, tilting your head further back and the pressure makes you squirm. He turns back with a small smile, something impish laying behind it. Aaron ducks down closer and you go still, his breath fanning over your lips and you can smell the tingling scent of mint.
“I did. Twice in fact. I’m counting the amount of times you break your rules, how ever many that is will help us decide what your punishment will be.” Aaron watches the blush slowly form across your cheeks before it seeps down your neck underneath his hand. He would be a lier if he said the effect he was having on you didn’t go both ways.
“We didn’t agree on any punishments, and how can I break a rule I didn’t know about?” You utter, quietly, your eyes betraying you and dropping away from his stare. Aaron smirks, nodding as he smooths his hand down to your collarbone, feeling the wild thump of your heart through your skin.
“That’s why I’m here. We’re going to discuss everything. Over lunch.” He steps back leaving you glued to the door staring at him baffled. “What are you in the mood for? We’ll order something in instead of risking the weather.” And as if the sky could hear his wise judgment a roll of thunder shakes the building. You squeeze your eyes shut until the noise dies off and the only thing that can be heard is the rain splattering against the window once more.
Aaron watches you, gaining a new piece of information, before walking towards the nightstand where the muted green hotel phone lays. He notices your half eaten breakfast sandwich and mutters something you can’t quiet hear.
“Um.. pizza?”
“Pizza it is.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Not long after a steaming pepperoni and sausage is sitting on your dresser. Aarons posted in the chair again and you’re perched on the foot of the bed, picking at the melted cheese glancing your boss’s way every now and again.
“You look like you have something you want to say.” Aaron says, taking a large bite of his slice. Your shoulder rises and falls, watching him openly now. He wipes his mouth with a napkin, leaning back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other. You don’t think you’ve ever seen him look so… human. This is the same man you’ve witnessed stand his ground against men ready to kill, talk down others who are ready to end it all; protect his team with a fierceness that goes unmatched by any other. It’s hard to think of him as anything else besides SSA Hotchner, but right here… is just Aaron.
“I don’t know… I guess I’m still trying to wrap my head around this.” You admit, biting into your lower lip. “Everything is just… it’s such a sudden change and hasn’t been easy to get use to.”
Aaron smile is pitying at best and you want to convince yourself you hate it. “I know baby. You’ll get there, though. We have the entire month to smooth everything out and come to understand each other better.” The loose use of different pet names makes your insides bubble with craved affection, shame tinting your skin. “Are you ready to talk?”
“I don’t really have a choice do I?”
“You do, at any point you can call it off, but you know exactly where that leads.” His tone is all to knowing of your decision and you huff, scrubbing your hands across your face. He takes your silence as reluctant agreeance, pulling out his phone. “Last night I came up with some rules, punishments and rewards that I think will suit you and I the best.” He taps away at his phone for a few seconds before continuing. “The first, simple, call me Aaron when it’s just the two of us. Second, don’t doubt me when I say I am buying you something or taking you somewhere. Money is not an issue. Third-.”
“Answer my phone at your beck and call?” The sarcastic question sort of fell from your lips, causing Aaron’s eyes to narrow as he sets his paper plate down on the pizza box.
“Third.” He emphasizes, drawing out the word. “Check in with me. I need to know you are okay, if you’ve made it where you are going, if there is anything you need. It’s important that you do so.”
“That’s going to be hard to do when we will be on cases and working.” You point out, picking apart your pizza and taking small bites of the greasy dough.
“That’s why all of these rules are moldable to how we live. Work is for work, but some things will still apply. Like making sure you are eating, drinking plenty of water, getting rest when you can. After hours, when it’s just us, I expect you to follow your rules completely.” He watches the way you pluck off the pepperonis, setting them off to the side. “Punishments won’t be a daily thing like it is with others. We can pick a day where we sit and go over everything you’ve done wrong for the week, then decide your punishment from there. I have a few ideas such as choosing your clothing for the week, have your write lines, have you kneel for an extended period of time.”
Your nose scrunches, the next thing your peeling from your pizza is the little balls of sausage. “That all sounds a bit childish.”
“You aren’t wrong. But you’d be surprised how childish a person can act when given rules.” You roll your eyes making him chuckle. “Just like that.” You shoot him a halfhearted glare that he returns with a smile. “But if you’ve been a brat all day, disobeying me and forgetting your rules multiple times, then I may need to resort to something a bit harsher. Putting you over my knee, bondage, collar.” He watches your face flush, eyes going wide like a full moon. “Even then. It’s more so about the embarrassment than it is ever about the pain. Some people find these things enjoyable.”
“You can’t be serious.”
Aaron’s smile takes on a more devious twist, letting his head rest against his fist as he props his arm on the chair. “Maybe you’ll just have to find out.”
You stare at him in shock, your half deconstructed pizza laying forgotten in your lap as your insides burn. Your mind betrays you, questions popping up like wildfires; what would it feel like? Would he leave marks on your skin? Would you enjoy it like he says?
Stammering you drop your gaze from his, his smile never fading as he searches the soft planes of your face, forcing himself not to look any lower than your exposed collarbones and the gentle slope of your shoulders. You set your plate to the side, crossing then uncrossing your legs, the bed creaking as you try to sort through your thoughts. “Can um… can I ask you something?”
“Always.”
“Does David know? And if so is there anyone else?”
Aaron nods, then quickly raises his hands at the look of panic crossing your features. “David is the only one who knows, and that’s not because I told him out right.” Your panic quickly melts into confusion. “David is the one who suggested I bring up a contract with you.”
Your jaw drops, absolutely flabbergasted. “Wait.. David’s… he’s into this?” Aaron nods again, letting you piece together what you will with that crumb of information. “Oh… so… that means the two do you were talking about me.”
Aaron laughs, a deep pleasant sound. “I promise, it wasn’t anything like you might think. We are just worried, and he thought it would be more appropriate coming from me than him.” Despite his humor you can feel panic rising steadily in your chest.
“Ho- Aaron what if someone finds out?”
“There isn’t any reason for anyone to know.”
The iron grip of your blooming panic wraps itself around your throat, your body humming with a desperate need to move and open your lungs. You stand from the bed and begin to pace the small area, passing Aaron with each turn on your heel.
“What if one of us slips up? The amount of trouble we could get into is-it’s astronomical. I’d be forced out of my job because I’m suddenly a woman who sleeps with their boss. You would be forced to resign but of course they’ll go easy on you-.”
“Honey-.”
“-Even if it doesn’t get to that point, the entire team will see me differently. They will question the authenticity of my role and my job. Oh God, and Morgan would be relentless with the teasing.”
“Y/n.”
“He still calls me señorita after I messed up my order at that Mexican restaurant a month ago! He’d never let us-.” Aaron leans forward, capturing your wrist as you walk by with a sharp tug. Pain laces up your already tense muscles and on instinct you turn, your hand lashing out and connecting with the side of Aaron’s face.
Everything goes silent, both of you stuck staring at the other in shock. “I-I’m… I didn’t mean-.” Aaron pulls you down and you clumsily fall into him, knee banging against the chair; your free hand landing on his shoulder. Aaron wraps a hand around the back of your neck, squeezing and before you can utter a word his lips crash into yours.
A muffled squeal escapes the back of your throat, squirming in his tight hold but it proves useless as his other hand drops your wrist, circling the back of your thigh and pulling you fully into his lap. Thighs caging his hips, chest pressed tight against his you squeeze your eyes shut. Aaron depends the kiss, moving his lips against yours allowing a few whimpering syllables to reach the air.
Your heart hammers painfully, your hands gripping at his shoulders but to your surprise you find your body relaxing. Every panicked thought is eclipsed by Aaron as his tongue slowly traces the seem of your lips, asking for entrance that you hesitantly give. But once you get your first taste of him you know you’re gone for, a soft moan rattles through your chest and Aaron devours it, licking into your mouth like a man starved.
His rough hand slips up your thigh, mindful to stay over your dress as it rides up, to cup your ass, squeezing the fat making your hips jump. The involuntary movement makes you grind down against him, pulling out another moan that is quickly followed by one of his own. He is all you can focus on, the fingers in your hair at the base of your skull, the growing bulge pressing into your heated core, the way the side of his nose bumps into yours. His thighs shift, sliding you further into his lap with a ragged groan.
Slowly, almost unwillingly you pull back, sucking in deep lungfuls of air. He gives you the silent moment you need, his fingers scratching your scalp slightly as you try to compose yourself atop him. He can’t stop the way his eyes roam to your lips though, the short taste of you forever imbedded in his brain.
When you finally let your eyes flutter open you meet his half lidded gaze, you lick your lips. “I-I need some time alone…”
*~*~*~*~*~*
Two hours later your phone buzzes on the nightstand, you glance at it from where you lay, curled up on your side in bed. Your fingers keep tracing your kiss swollen lips, unable to stop thinking about anything else. Grabbing your phone you roll onto your other side, opening your texts.
A new message from Aaron pops up, and your thumb hovers over the screen, your stomach churning with anticipation. Clicking the screen a long message pulls up.
‘Let me know what you want to change, my sweet girl.’
A smile tugs at your lips without your permission, cheeks reddening as you read over the list of rules, rewards, and punishments that follow. At the very end, boldened followed by a question mark is the word:
‘Spanking?’
You take a deep breath, sealing your fate with a few clicks of your keyboard.
Thank you all for the amount of love this has received 😭 I can’t wait to continue writing the rest of this story. Please comment below if you would like to be added to the tag list!
Tag List: @kneelforloki @hmett20 @axionn @ncis0mrs0gibbs @morgthemagpie @zaddyhotch @little-miss-cherry-cola @fandomawesomness @heart-breaker8 @aad1993 @obsessed-oops @supercriminalbean @lex13cm @rosiehale23 @emptybagofchips77 @icarusgloom @imr0nni3 @cashtons-wife
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thehopefuljournalist · 1 year ago
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unrelated- what's your favorite news story recently?
Hello, thank you so much for asking!! I've had a hard time because this week was actually full of news stories and I'm working on releasing them all to you guys!
But let me tell you about my favourite one from today :)
As an activist, working within my own country and out especially in climate-related themes, I believe in people-power, fully. I know, of course, that some people have more power and influence than others, but there's no denying that there's strength in numbers.
This recent, huge, protest in New York is such a hopeful turn, I think. I love seeing that I'm not the only one worried, that I'm not alone in my fighting. With numbers, we have a bigger chance of winning over our world leaders, and by doing that, to protect ourselves and our futures.
Well, this is my favourite news story from the past two days.
This past Sunday, 75K climate activists took to New York's streets in a “march to end fossil fuels”
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized the US continuing to approve fossil fuel projects, something which the Biden administration did earlier this year with the controversial Willow project in Alaska.
“We are all here for one reason: to end fossil fuels around the planet,” Ocasio-Cortez told a rally at the finish of the march, which ended close to the UN headquarters where world leaders will gather this week. “And the way we create urgency is to have people around the world in the streets.”
“The United States continues to be approving a record number of fossil fuel leases and we must send a message, right here today,” adding that despite record profits the support for the fossil fuel industry was “starting to buckle and crack”.
“This is an incredible moment,” said Jean Su of the Center for Biological Diversity, who helped organize the mobilization. “Tens of thousands of people are marching in the streets of New York because they want climate action,"
“This also shows the tremendous grit and fight of the people, especially youth and communities living at the frontlines of fossil fuel violence, to fight back and demand change for the future they have every right to lead,” she said.
The march came during Climate Week, as world leaders gather for this week’s UN general assembly, and a UN climate ambition summit on Wednesday.
On Friday, the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Biden was not currently scheduled to take part in Wednesday’s UN climate summit. Biden has been praised by climate activists for last year passing a historic $369bn climate law but criticized for allowing oil drilling projects and the expansion of gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.
A decision for Biden to stay away from the UN climate ambition summit is “unacceptable”, said Su of the Center for Biological Diversity. “The time is now for Biden to lead on the world stage, and show he means it when he calls climate change the existential threat to humanity.”
During the march, the Rev Lennox Yearwood, head of the Hip Hop Caucus, likened today’s climate movement to the US fight for racial justice. 
Youth climate activist Vanessa Nakate, from Uganda, said: “When we say that we want climate justice, we’re not just talking about transitioning to solar panels. We are talking about leaving no one behind when you’re talking about addressing the injustices that come with the climate crisis."
Article published September 17, 2023 - The Gaurdian
Another article, interviewing a young climate activist
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youngveinsworld · 10 months ago
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the young veins interview at the beat kitchen in chicago, 10 april 2010
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Ryan, Andy and Nick M of the Young Veins interviewed by Natalie Kuchik for the Estrella Online blog, 10 April 2010:
Can you please state your name and what you do in the band? Ryan: My name is Ryan Ross and I am the James Dean of the group. Andy: I am Andy Soukal and I play the thumping bass. Slapping the bass. Nick: My name is Nick Murray and I play the drums.
The first tour as The Young Veins, how has it been going and what’s the crowd reaction been like? Ryan: Seems like it is getting better and better. Nick: The tour seems to be picking up steam. Ryan: More and more people are coming I feel like than the first shows, so that’s really nice. Andy: We have such a diverse line-up. We have a hip-hop band, a crazy Freddie Mercury style band and then a throw back band and the crowd has been really receptive to all of it.
How did you guys get on this tour with Foxy Shazam? Ryan: We are managed by the same people. It was kind of tough to get on a tour when you don’t have any music out or any records, so I think they did us a favor. Or maybe we are doing them a favor.
What is it like going back to more smaller intimate venues? Ryan: It is more interesting every night, you never know what you are going to walk into. Some of these stages are, I question the craftsmanship in a lot of these clubs because I can’t figure out what they were thinking but it makes it a lot of fun. Being so close to the crowd again, I forgot how that was and it makes the show have more energy I think.
Do these venue sizes make you guys more hands on? Do you go out and sign merch afterwords? Ryan: Yeah, pretty much every night. If you need to come see me, I am petty much around. It has been really nice to actually be able to talk to the kids it has been awhile since that has been possible. Nick: Especially, since we don’t have any music out or released we are building a really close relationship with what fan-base we do have is really important. Being as close as possible, building friendships and meeting people around the country is good.
What kind of comments are you guys getting from fans? Andy: It ranges all over the place. Ryan: Yeah, where do we begin. Well, I guess about the music it has been cool to have kids say, “I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this or not”, “I’ve only heard two songs but I’m really excited about the album now.” Then sometimes they ask if they can marry me. Nick: The best feeling in the world is to have people that did not come for our band and like our band and tell us that after the show. Especially, since no one has any pretense of what to expect. If they did like it, that is a really good feeling, it is the best feeling in the world. Ryan: It really feels like we are up there trying to win people over, it is challenging.
When this tour ends, what are your plans after? Ryan: More touring, we are going to do Bonnaroo. Then we are trying to route a tour around that so we will be touring in June and then the album comes out June 8th.
The first single is “Change” why did you go with that one? Nick: Seemed logical. Ryan: Yeah, I don’t know. I feel like that album is all over the place and so many songs sound different. I can’t say it represents the album best but it is one of the more upbeat heavier songs. I think live it is a lot of fun to do. Andy: We also did a lot of market research.
Did you really? Because people do that. Ryan: We polled people at the movies.
On your upcoming album Take a Vacation! all the songs are three minutes or less, was that planned or did it just happen? Ryan: No, I don’t know. I guess something switched in Jon and my songwriting and I guess we just trimmed the fat and cut out parts we didn’t need. It is going to kind of make it hard to do a headlining tour. A lot of our favorite records are really short. I mean, there are so many early Elvis songs that are under two minutes long it is really crazy. It wasn’t a conscious thing it is just the style of music we write is shorter, I don’t know for what reason.
The album comes out June 8th, are you planning on streaming it online for free before it comes out, or any other promotions? Ryan: We are sort of putting together some sort of marketing plan but that is not really my strong point, so the label is always coming up with stuff like that. We are doing something pretty cool where if you buy the vinyl you’ll get the CD for free. We are doing these really neat pre-order packages where we are doing these view master things from when you were a kid. We are doing a box set thing where you get one of those with pictures of the band and we did a couple of photo shoots for them. Stuff that is fun for us to do.
Did your label come up with those ideas or was it your guys? Ryan: That was ours. Nick: We really liked the idea of having a view master. Ryan: We were talking about it months ago. Nick: We just didn’t think it was a possibility. Ryan: The label has been really great about letting us do these crazy things already.
What about the vacation photo contest, was that your idea? Ryan: That was their idea, which I really liked because I have been meeting the kids every night and they are really excited about it. There is really nothing we have to do, it is just a great way to have people come for free.
When you (Ryan) were in Panic! at the Disco you wrote a lot of the songs, would you ever do one of those songs live again? Ryan: I don’t know, I sang a couple of the songs so I guess those would be the only ones I would do. I haven’t really thought about it to be honest with you. Andy: It is a different style so it kind of clashes a little bit. I am not super familiar with everything but if there are a couple of songs similar to our style sure it would be considered but otherwise, it would just clash with what we are doing.
I know your sound is so different, when did you feel the shift from Panic! at the Disco to The Young Veins sound? Ryan: The stuff that I was writing, like half this album (Take a Vacation!) with Jon would have been for the Panic! record anyway. It wasn’t a shift really except for when we quit, I guess it allowed us to do even more than we wanted. Maybe half this stuff we actually already knew [that] there would be no chance it would be for Panic! so we went wild with it. It wasn’t a conscious shift ever in our songwriting, it just kept evolving.
When you parted ways did you know your former band members would keep using the Panic! At the Disco name? Ryan: No, I didn’t think that they would keep the name. It was a little bit shocking when I heard about them doing these tours and stuff without us. I figured doing your own thing meant doing your own thing.
What is a song you never get sick of hearing? Andy: “Wounded” by The Cookies. No one is going to know what that is so you don’t have to write that down, but I am going to throw that out there. Ryan: Reason why? Andy: Reason why, well it’s an old song and it’s just really unique and clever. The vocal melody are just so challenging, and that stuff in today’s music is not accessible at all. You don’t find stuff like that. Ryan: You got one Nick? Nick: I just thought of one, umm… Ryan: The one that I keep listening to recently is the song “The Windmills of Your Mind”, the Dusty Springfield version. I think we might cover that song in the future but it is constantly on repeat for me. Nick: It is kind of an obvious one but “Waterloo Sunset” is still one of my favorite songs of all time which is by The Kinks. I’ve never gotten sick of listening to that song. Ryan: Yeah, that’s one of mine. Nick: I have probably heard it fifteen thousand times and it’s never gotten old. Andy: Also “No Scrubs” by TLC, that one never gets old. We sing that one in the van a lot.
Think you would ever cover that song? Andy: I hope.
You are going to need some filler songs when you headline. Andy: Yeah (laughs).
What is something you have always wanted to do but have not done yet? Nick: Shoot a feature film. Ryan: Shoot a feature film star. Andy: I would like to be in Nick’s feature film.
Seriously, are you into movies? Andy: Especially Die Hard. Nick: Yeah, I definitely want to make one though within the next year or so. Ryan: I don’t know, I am sorry I don’t have a good answer for this one. Nick: I don’t even want that to be the answer though, I want something crazier. Ryan: I know I am not really funny today, I am a little bit upset at myself actually.
You guys are young, there has to be something! Ryan: I have done it all (everyone laughs). I want to learn how to ride a motorcycle.
Do you own one yet? Ryan: No, but wouldn’t that be funny?
Well, some people buy frivolous stuff they don’t use. Ryan: Yeah, I have thought about it. Me and Jon were going to buy motorcycles when I still lived in Vegas and we were going to drive up into the mountains until we realized what a bad idea that was. I still would like to because I used to live near the PCH in California, so I always thought it would be fun to drive a motorcycle up and down the coast.
If you could see any band or artist perform any song live, what would it be and why? Andy: These questions are so hard. Ryan: They’re so good though. Andy: Bon Jovi. I agree! No, I’m just joking. Ryan: Can you travel back in time and see the group when they were young?
Yeah, any line up, any song. Ryan: I might want to see The Kinks do “You Really Got Me” like in 1965 or something. Nick: “I Was A Teenage Werewolf” by The Cramps.
Any particular reason why? Nick: Yeah, I’m a really big Cramps fan and Lux died last year, so I never got to see them. Andy: Can I just say, every song that Gentle Giant has ever done.
Just an entire concert, any reason why? Andy: That is such a bad answer. They are just really wacky and they are just this weird band from the 70s that never made it anywhere but was really cool. Ryan: I can’t understand why.
You (Ryan Ross) received a backlash when you left Panic! At the Disco, did you expect that? Ryan: No, but I guess…
Did you have to learn to roll with it? Ryan: Yeah, I mean it was already bad enough without that having to happen to. I guess, when people don’t understand the reasons why it’s easy to get mad at the person you don’t know for something you think they did. It’s weird how some of the fans took it personally. I wish they would understand, this is our life and we have to do what is best for us.
You have to play the music that you want to play. Nick: People grow up. Ryan: It seems to be passing a little bit. Some people are coming around and saying, maybe it wasn’t the smartest train of thought I was on a couple of months ago. I don’t know, I mean obviously if I was a young kid, a teenager and my favorite band broke up I would be a little bit upset too.
Estrella: Do you guys have any final comments? Andy: No, that was my two cents. Ryan: Do you want to comment on it? (laughs) Andy: No, that about covers it. Ryan: Cool, thanks.
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riddles-n-games · 10 months ago
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You know what we’ve been really missing out on? A dance headcanon. It may have crossed your mind at some point or you have never thought of it, but trust me you actually have, so here you go and you’re welcome.
We’ve certainly gotten sprinkles (read: karaoke scene, I mean, we were about to get FED and bam Grayson pity party) of such things throughout the series but not in any outright way as is the case with many of the things that could give us more background on the Hawthorne brothers. (Why you holding out on us JLB??? Huh?!) Anyways, here. Read.
Nash-He does line dancing, I mean, you should have seen that one coming. He's basically the country star of his family and he owns it to the fullest; he's literally one of Taylor Swift's back up dancers for goodness' sake. Nash's favorite version of line dance is square dancing and being the sweetheart he is, he will go to retirement homes on dance nights and be one of the choreographers or partners to help the old folks who want to dance. Of course, when there's a festival, that's when he really gets down. But, this might surprise you; he's also had a stint with hip hop and he's pretty darn good at it. He can do the dougie for sure. In fact, he got so good at hip hop that he also started adding his own style to it and gave it his country flare at freestyle competitions (Jamie and Xander's minds were blown, at first, before the big brother cool wore off that is but they were still impressed🤭).
Grayson-All of them learned how to do ballroom dancing (mainly waltz) but someone had to be the best of them, too. Enter Grayson Hawthorne. He is certainly the go-to brother for these types of dances but he excels at tango and waltz which also give him his greatest enjoyment. Certainly, at school events, he was always sought after during the slow songs and was always leading man for the school's ballroom team. It was the one chance the ladies were allowed to swoon without a certain redhead ruining everything. Though he competed nationally and worldwide, he preferred the simple entry level competitions for the sake of the peace. It was also more fun. He also challenged himself by learning flamenco and he was enamored by it, loving the fast steps and quick changes from one thing to another. However, his grandfather wanted him to push it further since he was already pursuing the dance so he wanted him to do competitions and as much as he put his heart and soul into it, Gray hated doing competitions when he wanted to do this for fun. After his grandfather died, he quit comps and stopped dancing flamenco for a while but his brothers (read: Xander) have been encouraging him to take it up again as a fun hobby. He's been warming up to the idea.
Jameson-Should it really come as a surprise that this boy can tap dance? Because, yes, he can and he is damn proud of it. It’s a favorite party trick of his to pull on the dance floor or in the middle of the club and he’s always tearing it up. He also loves Irish stepdance and after watching the famous Riverdance live, Jameson was obsessed. That was how he and Xander ended up being trained by the very Riverdance company itself and they trained for two years until Xan no longer expressed interest but Jamie got good enough that he even went on tour with them. Also, he's been expanding his repertoire with street dancing, mambo, and most recently disco due to a certain someone's obsession with the 70s.
Xander-Despite Gray being the undisputed king of ballroom in the family, his youngest brother still takes to the swing better than anyone. He has been the most enthusiastic about it and loves the energy which matches him well in every aspect of the dance. Unlike his brother, competing never really bothered him and this is actually one of the things that he gets him into a perfectionist complex. He was a junior world champ on two occasions and now is teaching Max how to do it. On the more casual side of casual side of things, he also knows how to shag which is one of his favorite things to do on little dates with Maxine when they aren't going anywhere. And, of course, being the most sporadic of his brothers, Xander always shocks people when he tells them he also has done ballet. He never got to become a principal dancer as a junior dancer but he did get to do a few pas de deux and was a soloist when he was with the Texas Ballet Theater. His favorite ballets are The Nutcracker and Don Quixote; he appreciates Swan Lake but hates the unhappy versions.
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beautifulpersonpeach · 5 months ago
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Idk how I feel about armys saying Hobi's streams are lower because of the fandom hating the rapline and others saying it's because of boycotters. Something about both narratives rub me the wrong way, as if both sides are trying to push narratives that don't truly really stand up.
You've said you don't focus on streams I think but you're still a rapline bias BPP. You still bias Hobi so you know about his streams. How do you reconcile how these narratives are?
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I don't think this is complicated. Hobi's numbers were lower because some ARMYs didn't stream his album. That's it. It's the same case for RM.
It doesn't mean the fandom "hates" the rapline or that boycotters are to blame (given they so far appear to be a small minority). It just confirms that the fandom has imploded and so there is less cohesion around music goals, and so ARMYs who just aren't the audience for that kind of music aren't going to stream it.
What I've observed is that the core fandom that also started with BTS, are hiphop-heads. They are fans who actually enjoy the grit, the experimentation, and the crudeness of hip hop, which is the bread and butter of the BTS rapline.
When we used to be a proper country, it was the fandom that worked to make much of that music more palatable for other parts of the fandom, by translating and spreading interesting nuances in their lyricism, by making cool edits and fan mixes, by hosting stream parties with fun playlists, etc. It gave the members a headstart in building an audience. It took cohesive initiative from the fandom, and now much of that cohesive initiative is either hibernating or gone. If BigHit actually knew what they were doing (which is dubious given what MHJ has shown about BigHit and HYBE), they'd take the headstart the fandom gave them and work to establish a more solid market/audience for the members as they matured.
But for that to happen, BigHit has to know how to actually market the members beyond k-pop, beyond mindless radio pop, to more specific audiences. And lol, well, I'm still waiting to see that happen. Just look at the difference in quality between the kind of collaborators the members themselves seek out to work with (Little Sims and Ryuichi Sakamoto) vs. what HYBE arranges for them (Kodak Black and Central Cee).
I'm not worried for RM though. I've never been the sort of fan to take personal stake in his accolades, rankings, or perceived success, but even then I can see he's still doing more than fine, all things considered. Could be have a better performance if more of the fandom was engaged or if BigHit marketed him more to an audience that would better appreciate his solo work? Of course, but I don't ascribe the reasons for that not happening to "hate" or whatever ARMYs think boycotters are doing.
If anything, I find the blame-shifting from ARMYs to boycotters a bit cringe. The fandom is split, people are distracted and most of the people here are more focused on fighting a war on Bang Sihyuk's behalf than actually focusing on BTS and taking time to appreciate their work. It's a bit pathetic, but not malicious and frankly, it's expected.
Stream Neuron and Right People Wrong Place.
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yourmomni · 5 days ago
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Casual
Jaehyun x black reader
A/n: this story is inspired by the Chappell Roan song casual. Lately I’ve been obsessed with her,I might write a part 2 and base it off of another song so I hope you all enjoy and my request are back open btw🥰🥰🫡. Also imma miss my man while he away serving his country
TW: sexual content, cursing,Jaehyun is a asshole,angst
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“I'm just saying, I don't know why you still hang around him, he's literally everyone's man.” she blew her cigarette smoke in my face as i waved my hand. “You're going to get cancer.” she glared at me, flicking the bud on the ground. I stumped it out for her and handed her a bottle of water so she could rinse her mouth.
“He's not as bad as everyone makes him out to be, he's super sweet and caring.” she scoffed. “ I would not describe Jeong Jaehyun as sweet and caring.” she hopped on the trunk beside me resting her head on my shoulder. “I wished you could see him how I do jazz.” I breathed out fidging with my fingers as I rested my head on hers. “Nah then i'd probably be a loser like you.” i huffed out a laugh rolling my eyes
A loud gasp was yanked from my throat as my hands touched the roof of Jaehyun's car, my other hand was gripping his hair as he went down on me. The rain was hitting the window harder by each second almost like it was counting down the seconds until I finished. His grip on my waist was definitely going to leave a bruise later.
“ Jae- Jae im so close.” He licked from my cunt all the way to my clit as he slowly flicked his tongue up and down making me go overboard. The scream I let out was porngraphic as my legs shook around his head. He quickly connected his lips onto mine as I tasted my release on him. “Was that satisfying for you.” he smirked against my lips, pecking them one last time before going back to the driver's seat. I pulled my underwear up and smoothed my dress back down over my legs. He put the car in drive and began driving me home.
I looked over at him as he drove me home, his hands were gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were turning white, the city lights illuminated his face making his jaw bone look sharper than usual. “What's going on in the pretty little head of yours.” he looked over at me quickly, a small smile evident on his face. “Why don't you ever let me suck you off.” the car swerved a little, making you grab the door handle in fear. “ Sorry i wasn't expecting you to say something like that.” his smile now gone replaced with frowned eyebrows and a clenched jaw.
He looked more like he was having a confrontation in his head than angry and what I asked. “ Sorry its just we always hang out and it always ends with you pleasing me but me never doing anything for you.” he bit the skin on his lip. “ Well babe you don't have to worry about me okay i'm fine with just pleasing you.” you looked down at your hands. A little part of you knew he was going to respond like he did. Once after you guys made out and you were on his lap you got a little too excited and grinded your hips on him. He quickly flipped you over and took your pants off, for as long as you've been hanging out with him he's always stopped you from going over the sex line.
He noticed your sad gaze and reached for your thigh rubbing his thumb over your knee. “ What we have going is fine for now.” she sighed.”but i feel like you're doing all the work.” he chuckled. “y/n lets not over complicate things. I'm not doing this for both of our pleasures, I'm only doing it for yours let me worry about if i get off or not.” he pulled in the front of your house. He looked over to see the pained look you had on your face. You were biting the inside of your cheek to keep from saying anything else. Jaehyun leaned on the wheel then fell back against his seat.
“ I'm sorry I didn't mean to snap at you like that.” you unbuckle your seatbelt, opening the door. “No it's my fault i dont even know why I said that.” you closed the door “y/n wait-” you cut him off “i'll see you later.” you plastered a sweet smile on your face as you covered your head from the rain. You ignored when he called for you knowing their wasn't much for him to say anyways he said everything he needed
You weren't dating Jeong Jaehyun, hell you haven't even slept with him, so why were you so upset when you found out the night he dropped you off at your house from eating you out, he went straight to anothers girl's house to get his dick wet.You shouldnt be but you were, you were storming down the corridor of the school searching for Jaehyun.
You spotted him dapping up one of his friends wearing the baseball cap you bought him from your trip to Brazil 4 weeks ago. His friends spotted you before he did “Hey isn't that y/n” jaehyun looked over his shoulder seeing you in all your beauty. You walked up to them and jae immediately pulled you in for a kiss. “Hey baby what's up.” you looked at him in shock. He's never kissed you infront of his friends and definitely not in public for everyone to see.
You stuttered over your words completely forgetting what you wre going to say to him, all the anger you had seeped away from you. “Oh i was just looking for you, you never returned my text.” he held you by your waist tucking a braid behind your ear. “Oh i'm sorry i had it on DND for a class.” he bid his friend goodbye as he grabbed your hand and you began walking with him, “i was wondering if you were busy next week?” you shrugged. “No not really” maybe that talk about him being with other girls can wait.
What the hell did you get yourself into, Jaehyun’s mom was sitting infront of you showing you a book full of his baby pictures while jae helped his dad at the grill outside. “Im just so happy you could make it y/n i know long beach is a far drive.” I shook my head. “Oh its fine, really i was super excited to meet you guys.” their was apart of you that wished this was all real, you wished you were dating jaehyun and he introduced you to his family for the first time. You wished you would be a common fae around the Jeong household. But it was all a lie.
Jae needed someone to bring home to meet his parents to show he was making progress in school and not fucking around. And What's a better choice then bringing the girl you eat out occasionally in your bmw. ��Mom she doesn't want to see any more baby pictures.” he winned sitting beside me draping his arm behind me head. His mom excused her self going outside to talk to his dad about when dinner would be done.
“Your family is nice.” He nodded pulling out his phone putting all his attention on it.I sighed tapping my legs. “Y/n can I ask you something.” Jae’s sister asked standing infront of me, I nodded standing up and walking with her to her room where she closed the door.
“Okay so theirs this guy I like and I think he likes me to but I don’t know if I should make the first move or not.” Areum looked just like their mom long brown hair and roses cheeks. She was younger then Jae by 3 years and was in her last years of highschool.
“Well if you’re anything like your brother your pretty strong willed so I think you should make the first move.” She smiled pulling me into a hug “ thanks for the advice I’m totally gonna do that.” We talked for a little awhile about the guy she was talking about, even exchanging numbers.
Jae looked agitated for the rest of the night, you couldn’t help but think you had something to do with it. You guys sat down for dinner and socialized but Jae only gave dry answers to his parents when asked how school was or if he talked to old friends. Something was bothering him.
“Jae can you show me where the bathroom is?” You asked standing up from the table, he stood up telling his patents her would be back. He guided you down the hall you quickly pulled him into the bathroom closing the door and locking it
Before you could say anything jaehyun had you pined to the door and in a heated kiss. His hands were traveling up your sides feeling how soft your skin was.”Jae what are you doing, your parents are waiting for us.” He’s lips trailed down your neck sucking on the skin. He slowly reached his hand in your pants, you grabbed his wrist.
“Jae we can’t.” He finally made eye contact with you, his eyes darker then usual as he stared at you. You’ve never seen him look at you like this “ I need you.” He breathed out leaning his forehead on yours. “I need you so bad y/n” his lips ghosting over yours. “Just this once let me have you” he never broke eye contact with you.
His hands were pulling at the waist band of your skirt. You knew what he was asking but you didn’t know how to react to it. Out of all the places jaehyun wanted to fuck you it would be in his parents house in their bathroom. “ But you said-“ he groaned “ forget about what I said…I need you.” He was begging you. He pecked your lips and that’s what made you fall for it. That’s why your gripping the sink with your underwear to your ankles and jaehyun thrusting behind you.
Since then it was like you found a new side of jaehyun. He would see you after school just so you would get him off again and again. You didn’t have a problem with it but it was starting to feel like that’s all he needed you for. But it’s all casual it’s normal for this to happen in situationships.
You finished your last class of the day putting everything in your backpack and throwing it on your back. “Hey.” You looked up and saw one of jaehyun friends waving at you. “ oh hey I don’t know where Jae is” you began walking away from him but he stopped you “ oh I actually wanted to talk to you.” You tilted your head in confusion. “ Can we maybe go outside.” You nodded as you made your way out of the class
“ He told you what?” My eyebrows were raised and nostrils flaring in anger. I was gripping my book bag strap to near death from the guys statement. “ He said you guys weren’t together and only fuck buddies. So I don’t think he’ll mind if me and you did something you know. Maybe we can have what you and him do, no harm no strings attached.” Okay now you were livid you scoffed. “ no thanks.” I walked away from him but he grabbed my wrist. “ You don’t have to be loyal to him y/n, everyone knows your not the only girl he messes around with.” You yanked your arm away. “ He says what you have is casual with no strings attached but why is he bring you to meet his parents? Why is he ranting to you about all his life problems? But turning around and fucking other girls. That doesn’t seem casual to me”
I thought he thought of me as someone better then just a common fling. But I guess not. I’m just one of his side girls he fucks when he wants to. Jazz told you he was a dick but you didn’t want to listen. She told you your heart was to fragile to be in a situation like this, you needed someone to love you, to care for you, to need you like you needed them. You were just a girl he banged on his couch and used when he needed.
You’ve been ignoring Jae for 3 days, it was a lot harder then you thought. You had over 20 missed calls and 50 missed text messages from him. You started taking your car to school and even parking it across campus to avoid him seeing you. “ You know you could just tell him you don’t want to see him anymore.” Jazz was fluffing her hair in you mirror as you both got ready for a party. “I know I’m just trying to find the right worlds I don’t want him to hate me.” She applied gloss to her lips and posed infront of the mirror “ Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
The party was packed to the rim with college students. You were trying to navigate yourself through to make it to a vacated area. “ is it to late to go back home” I groaned pushing my way through people. Jazz was long gone finding one of her classmates starting up a conversation with them which caused you to be left by yourself fight through the crowd.
Once you found a open space you could finally breathe. This was defiantly the last party you were going to this year. What you really needed was a drink. This week had your brain spiraling every which way, not slowing down at all for you to think. You still didn’t know what you were going to say to jaehyun when you saw him.
A little part of you wanted to forget everything his friend told you and go back to the way things were, you so badly wanted to believe everything he said was a lie but a part of you knew it wasn’t.
The problem was you had a faith in jaehyun, you had faith that he wasn’t fully using you and he had more respect for you then what others were saying. Gosh how you wished everything he told you wasn’t true. Maybe you could gaslight yourself into not believing and forgetting everything else. But that quickly changed.
Your heart was fully shattered now, the pieces falling into your stomach. You could tear your eyes away from what you were seeing. Jeahyun was at the part. With a girl pushed up against the making out with her.
She had her arms around his neck and fingers in his hair, like how you use to do. His arm was on the wall behind her while his other hand was feeling up her waist.
God how stupid could you be.
You just wanted to disappear, right then and there. You wanted the ground to open and swallow you up. How could you think and man like that would fall in love with you.Oh how you would do anything for him. How you would answer his phone calls at 3am when he complained about a class or his friends. How you stayed by his side when he was sick, how you met his parents and grew close with his sister. How you thought he saw you more then an object. Because he surely replaced you fast, or did he always know her.
He pulled away from her with a shit eating grin on his face at that moment he turned his head,his smile dropping from his face. He quickly removed the girls arms from around his neck and stepped away from him. He was looking at you with a new expression. He was caught.
And he didn’t know what to do
You headed staright for the door no longer wanting that drink and instead wanting to go home and cry into your sheets. You got through the crowd more quicker then going walking out the door and down the side walk.
How could you be so stupid
Thinking you were the only one
Such an idiot
The tears started to roll down your cheek and you wiped them.why were you crying? You knew what you were getting into. You knew from the beginning. “Y/n.” You heard feet running towards you. Jeahyun grabbed you arm turning you around. You couldn’t even look at him, because you knew if you did everything would pour out of you.
“ Y/n what did you expect?” What did you expect? Is that really what he just said to you. “I told you how it was going to be between us. I told you no feelings should be involved, you knew better” The glare you gave jaehyun would have killed him right then and there if it could. “ You know Jae you're a piece of shit.” Jae's eyes widened at your words. “ I did everything for you. I listened to you when no one else would, I was their for you during your darkest times, I met your fucking parents. Nothing about us is casual.” Now it was all coming back to you. The reason why you were always so angry with him but then forgetting it is because he would open his pretty mouth and sweet talk you down. No more of that
“ I would have done anything for you, I-“a sob ripped from your throat .” It’s hard being casual when I have clothes at your house, it’s hard being casual when I’m close with your sister jaehyun, I try to be the chill girl who doesn’t say much and give you space certain days but Jae I’m not those fucking things.” you wiped your tears with your sleeve. “I - i dont even know why im out here outside this fucking house party crying over a guy who didnt give a shit about me.”
His jaw was clenched and hands running through his hair anxiously. “ I can’t be with you.” You faced dropped. He finally looked at you anger evident on his face ,he closed his eyes tightly. “ I’m a piece of shit, I know that. I know I hurt you but I didn’t care because I was getting something out of it.” Your face fell he did this to you on purpose. “im a narcissist that’s what everyone calls me right? They aren’t lying y/n I don’t care about anyone but myself. I told you not to get attached and look what happened Now your upset.”
You shook your head wrapping yourself in your arms. You hated yourself, why did you put up with this for so long, why did you put yourself in this situation. He was right, you knew what you were getting into but your stupid heart couldn’t take it.
“Why did you start having sex with me?” Jeahyun eyes grew wide. “Y/n- why.” You laughed “it’s because that other girl knew you were full of shit and dropped you isn’t it?” He was clenching his fist. “That’s just what you do, you use girls and drop them when you’re done, when you can no longer control them. Well how does it feel to be dropped jaehyun?” “It feels fucking great that I don’t have to deal with your nagging anymore.” He shot back.
“I hate you Jaehyun.” Now it was his turn to look taken aback. “You don't care how you make other people feel, you only care about yourself. I get we weren't supposed to catch feelings but it's kinda hard not too especially how you treated me. And then you went and fucking told everyone what we were doing. Im a women Jaehyun if they here you’re fucking a girl especially when were in a situationship thats fucking dude points for you, but for me im going to be known as the campus slut. But you knew that right? That's why you told everyone? That’s why your friend came up to me and ask for a fuck. Because you only care about yourself. I cared about you but now i could give a fuck less what happens to you.”
You stormed away from him walking back to your car, jaehyun was standing there in anger and frustration but they weren't towards you. It was to himself, he crouched down on the sidewalk mentally beating himself up.it was hard for him to commit to a relationship, it wast likee he had past trauma but he was just so fascinated by people he couldn't choose who he wanted to spend his life with.
You were the sweetest girl he ever met, always smiling at him even after all the things people said about him, you didn't care if it was true or not you ever treated him differently. A part of him knew you were catching feelings for him, but he still let it happen. It feels good to have someone spend time with him out of care and love instead of lust. All the time you were nice to his parents , and eleven grew close with his little sister. He would be lying if he said he wasn't catching feelings too.
But he fucked everything up.
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solarwynd · 14 days ago
Note
https://www.tumblr.com/solarwynd/765358565733072896/i-feel-a-bit-burnt-out-on-big-pop-songs-nowadays?source=share
Sorry this isn't really Jimin related but I was thinking about this today. Caveat I know there's a lot of great music and talented musicians who are doing cool stuff around but my gripe is that we're getting less and less mainstream exposure to it and all my points are specifically about how exposed the gp is to it, not people who are deep in a particular genre or the indie scene
For one thing the alt pop, rock, edm, britpop and punk genre has totally shrunk in on itself in the mainstream compared to about a decade or two ago. Hip hop and rap have generally expanded to sort of replace that void but this year has been disappointing I think? Is it just me? Apart from the KL - Drake beef in the summer ofc. I'm glad Latin music, afrobeats and kpop is getting bigger but it's also centered on a few big names imo, rather than being full fledged established genres. I'm no expert but that's my layman assessment. Countrys getting bigger but I dislike country so this is bad news for me 😭
But also do you remember when tv series used to try to promote artists? Sure they'd play some current radio hits or oldies and it still happens once in a while like running up that hill with stranger things but we used to get 22 episodes with at least a few indie songs playing in the past. Now that series are getting shorter and shorter, it's had this unexpected side effect of limiting that kind of exposure. Also does anyone feel mainstream movie soundtracks are getting worse too? I think it's cause most of them are marvel Disney movies and they're pretty barren from a soundscape pov. Using Justin Timberlake's bye bye bye during the Deadpool opening scene? Some of the most uninspired shit I've seen in a while.
Even the films that released as musicals this year - all of them are recycling songs from their original theatrical productions like wicked or mean girls or they don't have any new songs at all like joker folie a deux. I don't know if it's because I aged out of watching them, but it also feels like Disney channel used to have more music in general for their teen audience - high school musical movies, camp rock, victorious, Hannah Montana, descendants - need to ask some kids if they still have shows or movies like these still. Again I don't know if I aged out of this either but Disney also used to just release more animated movies with original music right? Not just releasing lion king and Mulan or whatever again with the same songs slightly tweaked with new singers. Also this is apropos of nothing but remember when glee was a thing 😭
But even as TV and movies were getting less musically diverse, I feel like in the late 2010s and around the pandemic, Tiktok, Snapchat, social media in general was taking its place and exposing people to new music. The problem is that music labels quickly caught on and nowadays tiktok is also the same roster of top 40 hits as radio with influencers being paid to dance to a song or tiktok being paid so-called heating deals to promote certain songs. Same thing with Spotify. Spotify has always had paid playlists but the way they push the same songs over and over again now is crazy.
Anyway I sound like old man yells at clouds so I'm going to stop griping and start actively seeking out new music outside what's trending. I was just curious if other people also feel this narrowing or if it's just me
This is such a good assessment and I agree with you.
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safyresky · 2 months ago
Text
Grand Tour
Part I
"Pygmys."
"Pygmys?"
"Pygmys. They're fascinating little creatures!" The Prince tapped the glass of the jar he held in his hand. A fluffy little spike ball jumped a bit, spindly legs going wide as it ran all over the jar. "They travel in a big cloud and wreak havoc. They don't mean to, of course. They're just surviving. As we all are. But they do have a tendency to clump and stick to things and they do not come off that easy. We don't have these at the castle! The name is most definitely localized. It'll be exciting to study these closely and—"
"WAIT. THEY WHAT?"
The Prince frowned, turning around and shouting back at the farmer's fields. "THEY STICK."
"OH. WELL THAT EXPLAINS A LOT." The other Prince came around the corner of the farmer's shed, hopping on one foot, covered in pygmys. "Great news, Pyros, Jeremiah. I think I got them all."
"And they're going to eat right through your armour, Blaise. Marvin's going to kill you, you know."
"Not if my twin brother helps me out before then!"
Pyros tried very hard to look stern. He really, really, did. But they'd been travelling cross country for almost a month now and he was feeling quite good being away from home and Blaise looked really very funny with that monstrous big grin of his and he was going to be able to study a creature he could never get his hands on all cooped up inside the castle, so the smile did not slip out so much as it did explode across his face. He laughed to himself, waiting for Blaise to hop right beside him before summoning his staff. Mumbling to himself, he drew a few shapes around his brother, tapped the jar-ed pygmy with the top of his staff, and, once the jewel glowed, tapped the tip of Blaise's armoured foot. The Pygmys flew right off him.
"There we go! Better?"
"Much," Blaise grinned, summoning his own staff. Quickly drawing a circle in the ground he struck his staff in the middle of it. The Pygmys suddenly stopped bouncing around and were pulled into the circle, light stretching up around the perimeter and successfully trapping the sticky little fuzzy creatures within.
"Hmm. Nice. Think that'll hold for the night? I should be able to figure out how to dispose of them by the morning."
"Yeah, it'll hold. And we could always just. Y'know. Relocate them. We don't need to destroy them."
"Blaise, they're pests."
"Maybe they're useful somewhere else! Away from the crops and groves and what have you—"
"AHH! Your HIGHNESSESS!!"
Pyros looked appalled. "Is he calling the both of us? Really?"
Blaise snickered. "Hey, Marvin!" he said, eye contact with Pyros unbroken.
"No no no no NO don't you HEY MARVIN me, Prince Blaise. LOOK at the STATE of the two of you!" The angry drow thrust his hands out at them, face a deeper than usual shade of purple as he caught his breath. "Your armour is COVERED in some sticky substance and WHERE are your surcoats? Tippet? Robes?" He whirled, glaring at Pyros now, arms on his hips. "And YOU, Prince Pyros. WHERE is your ARMOUR?"
Both boys protested, both insisting they did not need the bits they were missing.
"Look, Marv, I've got the armour and Pyros has the robes and surcoats and royal colours so I think we're fine. I mean, between the two of us you have a whole dressed prince!" He grinned, throwing his arm over the drow's shoulders and bringing him in close.
The drow gulped, ducking a bit to avoid the fiery mess that was Prince Blaise's hair. "Your parents will have my head if I don't keep you shipshape and safe and that INCLUDES properly armed AND clean!"
"Marvin, please," Pyros said, raising a hand to placate. "Between the two of us, we'll be fine. We're both nearly masters at the warlock craft—some of us more so than others—and we do have our innate summer sprite lineage at our disposal as well."
"Which some of us excel in, more so than others."
"More so than others—"
Blaise stuck out his tongue with a very immature mlem.
Pyros returned the favour in kind, with a MLEM of his own.
"BOYS! This is really very unbecoming of the both of you—"
Pyros rolled his eyes as Blaise waved carelessly in the air with a very passionate, "Pish, posh."
"What? Pish posh?" Pyros looked perplexed. "Really? Where on Earth—"
"Winter."
"Of course."
"What? It's a fun turn of phrase!"
"You know, you are smitten with that season—"
"BOYS."
"Marv."
"Marvin."
Marvin closed his eyes for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose. He inhaled deeply. Exhaled. Pressed his fingers together one by one before opening his eyes. "Prince Blaise. Prince Pyros. I really must insist—"
"We're fine, Marvin! Really. Look, I'll clean the sticky off in a snap!" And he did just that. Blaise snapped his fingers, the sticky residue left from the Pygmies peeling off of his armour and disappearing into thin air, the armour itself looking freshly polished. "Boom."
"You still aren't wearing—"
"And I'm not going to! Just like Pyros isn't going to wear the armour!"
"It'll only impede my evening's work."
Marvin wrinkled his nose. He looked like he wanted to protest. "Fine. If you insist."
"And oh but we do!"
"Really and truly. I assure you, we will be just fine. You're dismissed, Marvin."
"Yeah, go enjoy the sights! We don't get to go out often, y'know."
Marvin's nose somehow wrinkled even more. "Very well."
Hands still clasped, he turned on his heel and headed back towards the royal entourage, immediately barking orders and dispersing them throughout the town.
"He's going to kill us."
"Oh yeah. One of these days, for sure. But that's a problem for later! For now, you've got fuzzballs to study, and I've got several other tenants to check in with. Unless you want to join—"
"Absolutely not, thanks. Jeremiah, if you wouldn't mind directing me to your local castor? Prisma, I believe is the name?"
"Sure, your highness. Big tower up the street. Very purple. Can't miss it."
"Much obliged. Blaise, I believe we'll have to stay overnight."
"I'll get Marv on it."
"Shout if he tries to kill you," Pyros said, heading down the path.
"He'll shout louder!"
Pyros laughed, turning at the gate and heading up the street.
Blaise watched him go, chuckling to himself. "Ah. I'd say poor Marv, but he makes it too easy. Anything else you need our assistance with, Jeremiah?"
"Well, there is one thing. It's not so much an assist more so as it is a concern. I'd take it to an audience day but uh, I don't often make it up your way."
Blaise smiled warmly. "Sure. What's up?"
"Well, ah. Your Majes-ah, Highness. Sorry, sorry. I mean no offence, I just—the titles—I—"
Blaise held up a hand. "Don't worry. Just Blaise is fine."
Jeremiah paled. "Are you certain?"
"The only people who care about titles are the King and Queen and Pyros and Marv and they are all not here so yes, I'm positive."
The magibean gulped. "Well, ah, Blaise." The corners of his mouth twitched; Blaise grinned. "I hope you don't take offence to this—"
"Why would I?"
"It's about her snowiness. I don't want to impose or, or suggest anything bad or untoward or—"
Blaise tensed. "Is she okay?"
"Ah, I imagine so, yes. I've not heard anything otherwise. It's just...the crops have been freezing."
"Pardon?"
"Every morning I've woken up and the crops have been lightly frosted. I would've attributed it to the East's natural tendency to frost over, on occasion, but that seemed illogical given the time of year...and then I saw her."
"Who?"
"The Season."
"Winter."
Jeremiah nodded. He wrung his hat in his hands, swallowed with an audible gulp. "Um. Every night. Around the same time. She appears just on the edge o'er there," he gestured vaguely to the farthest reaches of his fields. "She lingers for a bit. And then leaves. And every time I go out afterwards, everything is frosty. And it lasts through to the morning. It melts with the sun, but the frost isn't good for the crops and I can't afford any loss—"
Blaise held up a hand. The farmer stopped abruptly, his heart racing, breathing heavily.
"Have you talked to her?"
"Talked? To a SEASON?" Jeremiah blanched. "I'm just a mere farmer, I could never—"
"She's very friendly. Frosty exterior aside."
"Well, Prince Blaise, if it's not out of turn for me to say...you can interact with her. I cannot."
"Why not? I'm sure she'd stay and chat. She's one of Mother Nature's seasons, she won't ignore you if you have a concern—"
The farmer cleared his throat. "Castes, Your Majesty. Ah, Highness. Sorry."
"Blaise. Just Blaise."
"Right. Well. Being what you are—"
"A sprite?"
"A prince."
"Oh! Oh. Right."
"You travel the same circles as her, as it were. It's normal for you to just. Walk up to a season and talk to her. But not for farmers like me."
Blaise's shoulders dropped. His hair died down. "Oh."
"I'm sorry, Blaise, I didn't mean to—"
"Ah, don't worry about it!" He perked back up, the brief moment of sadness gone as fast as it came on. It was enough to give Jeremiah whiplash. "Every night, you said?"
Jeremiah nodded.
"Perfect. Tell you what. If you wouldn't mind running over to Marv and letting him know as fancily as possible that Pyros and I have decided to stay the night here, and to make preparations. Y'know. Station guards wherever, find us some nice lodgings—"
"Oh! Okay, sure! So something like," he cleared his throat, straightening his posture and holding his hat behind his back. "The Princes have decided to stay overnight. Prince Blaise has asked me to ask you to make whatever preparations you see fit to, and to procure lodgings for them for the night. Like that?"
"PERFECT! Thanks, Jerry." Blaise clapped his arm, grinning. "And while you do that, I'll gather up the rest of the Pygmys for Pyros, and tonight I'll stake out your fields! If Winter comes by, I'll talk to her and see if I can figure out the frost for you."
Jeremiah brightened. "Really? You'd do that?"
"Of course! Why wouldn't I?"
"It's just...you're so hands on! The King isn't. We usually have to wait a few days before the appropriate measures are taken for various issues. You and your brother tackle them right away! It's not—it's unexpected. And, um, to besmirch the character of a Season in front of a royal?"
"Besmirch?" Blaise laughed. "Nah, you're just concerned, is all. And I appreciate you telling me. I'll get it sorted, don't you worry. I'm sure it's nothing."
Jeremiah nodded. "I'm sure you're right."
---
Lodgings set for the night and Pyros hard at work with the local castor, Blaise set himself up at the farthest reaches of Jeremiah's fields, watching the sun fade and the night creep in. The sky was clear as can be, a crisp chill in the air if his visible breath was anything to go off of.
Stars shone brilliantly. Blaise lay between the wheat stalks, hands behind his head, watching the stars as the night grew later still. Hair out, he was surrounded by darkness, enjoying the rare moment of silence and beauty.
Sure, they had stars at the castle. But it was never completely dark. There were always lanterns lit and soldiers marching about, armoured heavily compared to Blaise. There was so much world beyond the castle, and he loved the quarterly outings the King and Queen had the pair of them undertaking, despite knowing full well the reasoning behind it.
After all, he and Pyros were approaching eighteen-hundred. They were well past the age of majority and neither ruler had deemed who would be next in line yet, and it was coming up fast. It was obvious to him that they were trying to keep the two of them out of the way of their decision making. Especially with how Pyros kept asking. And how he himself kept not asking. In fact, Blaise was avoiding the topic entirely. It was clear as the night sky to him that they'd been sent out to give the King and Queen a break, or to test the pair of them, or maybe even both.
He tried not to think about it too much; tried not to bring it up. Pyros got all weird about it, and he'd missed his brother lately. See, going into the advanced studies with the Queen had been...
Intense.
Yeah.
It was intense.
Pyros had doubled down his already double-downed practise and study routine and they didn't get to hang out as often anymore. Not until they'd been assigned to do these outings. And Pyros had been all weird at first, but as their time out grew, his weirdness seemed to disappear, and things felt almost normal which was a very nice change as things were feeling very not normal back at the castle as of late and Blaise Did Not Care For It.
Deep breaths, he told himself. We're not home right now. We're out and about. Just enjoy the night. And also maybe keep an ear out, like you told Jeremiah you would.
His breathing evened out (he hadn't even realized it'd started speeding up) and he cast his gaze back up at the sky, watching the stars twinkle as the planet turned, the cosmic dust coming into view high above him. He sighed, smiling up at the sky, when suddenly a pale, round face obstructed his view, white tendrils of hair framing her flushed cheeks, blue eyes lit up.
"Beautiful night, isn't it?"
"It just got even prettier, if you'll believe it."
She snorted, her head snapping back up—but not before Blaise caught the silly little grin. With one of his own, he sat up, staring up at the season before him.
"Ever the flatterer."
"You love it."
"I don't recall saying that."
Blaise smirked, bringing up a knee. He rested his elbow on it, holding his head in his hand. "You don't need to."
A delicate hand came up, blocking her mouth as she let out a little laugh.
Armour clanking, Blaise stood up, blinking briefly when he realized she was a lot farther down than he remembered.
"Why are you so small?"
She snorted. "I believe it's because you have gotten tall. Er. Still. I'm going to throw out my neck at the rate you're going, Blaise—er, your highness."
"No need for that! It's just us, Winter."
"Oh! Good! In that case!" She shifted, adopting her regal stance, folding her hands in front of her dress. "Blaise. What on Earth are you doing laying in the fields this far east and this late at night?!"
"Waiting for you, actually."
The Season flushed, her posture relaxing. "Oh! That's sweet. Unless I'm in trouble, of course." She paused for a moment, curiosity overtaking the flush. "You'd sneak out for me?"
"I mean, if you asked, probably! But I'm not sneaking around. It's, uh, the quarterly check in."
"Already?"
"Well, it has been three months since the last one."
"Good heavens. Time certainly flies, doesn't it?"
"It would seem so, but you know, I've never asked. Does he?"
"You know, I'm not quite sure! I've never thought to ask either. Perhaps Mother knows?"
"Maybe. You should ask her."
"I'll forward that to management. Right! Now then! You haven't answered my question. What are you doing laid out in the fields this late at night?"
"Waiting for you."
She blinked, dumbstruck. "You were serious?"
"Well, yeah!" Blaise chuckled. He ran a hand through his hair, sparks trailing behind him as it lit up. He took a moment to admire the way the firelight played on her face. There were angles at play, breaking through the childhood roundness. He wasn't the only one who'd grown, it seemed.
"Blaise? Earth to his highness? You there?"
"Yes! Right." He cleared his throat. "Jeremiah—the tenant who lives here? He had a bit of a concern he brought up earlier today when we rolled into town. Apparently his crops are frosting over every night, and though it melts during the day, he's concerned about the long term exposure effects. He thought it was you doing it. Says you've been stopping by every night?"
"Indeed I have! But not for the reason he thinks. Actually, this is great timing because I have a concern to raise with you."
"Oh?"
"It's about Jeremiah's crops. They're frosting over!"
Blaise snorted. "You don't say?"
She nodded, giggling quietly to herself. "Come along, your highness. I'll show you. Right this way!" And without waiting for him to reply, Winter grabbed his hand and led (dragged) him to the corner of the field Jeremiah had pointed out earlier that day. She pulled him down, the pair squatting in the stalks, staring at the wheat. She let go, keeping her hands above her shoulders and maintaining eye contact. "See how my hands are way up here?"
Blaise nodded.
"Right. Well. Look at the wheat."
Blaise did, and immediately found himself frowning as frost crept over the sheaths, tickling the very tops of the plants and settling in for the night. It stretched on, right through the entirety of the field. He glanced back over at Winter: hands still up; no obvious magical signature showing. He felt the magic in the air around them. Her magical signature was not pulling at the threads.
It wasn't her.
"So that shouldn't be doing that."
"What's worse is it won't listen to me."
"What?"
"Watch."
Winter stood up, the heads of the wheat tickling her elbows. Her hands took on a white glow as she pulled them back, and the frost stayed perfectly comfortable on the spikes of the wheat. She gestured towards it violently, the white glow gone, the most frustrated pout on her face. "See?"
"That's really weird. I thought all frost and snow and wintry stuff listened to you?"
"Ah, but even we seasons have our limits. Sometimes nature takes its course and we let it do so. Mother Nature says that perhaps this is one of those times; perhaps nature is trying to tell us something."
"So why doesn't she just tell you straight up?"
"I think she's using it as a lesson. Anyway, I've started my nightly rounds here every day for the past few weeks, trying to see if I can make the frost go away, but nothing I do seems to work! So I looked closely at the pattern, and though the frost is mirroring the shapes of the wheat, there's a slight little group of curls that look quite similar to the pattern that usually resides within the frost in the Snowy Lands to the North of here."
"But it would only be doing that if the crops were on Northern holdings."
"Precisely. I think the current land holder is committing a spot of encroachment. I haven't had a chance to look further into it, but given the facts..."
"It seems likely the land Jerry's using for this year's harvest is actually in the North and not the East."
"Exactly. And I don't think Jerry knows this! I think the Lord here is trying to keep it on the down low." She squinted for a moment. "Leo? Zeo? Neo! That's the one. Bit of a prick, if I recall correctly."
Blaise snorted. "Checks out. He's always complaining about his holdings when we host court." Blaise rubbed his chin. "If he's trying to gain more land, he'll want to do it quietly and carefully. The royal surveyors are the best at their jobs. It would take quite a bit to trick them."
"Precisely. And! We are fairly close to the border right now! The town beyond here is a hub where denizens from both the North and East meet up, do business, and so on. If you played your pieces right, it could be a fairly easy point to start growing your holdings illicitly. Especially since the North is so sparsely populated."
Blaise continued to rub his chin. "That's a hefty accusation."
"Indeed. But it has merit. If you look at the other half of the field, the one that's closer to his farmstead, the crops there are all fine. Not a single bit of frost on there."
"Hmm. Interesting." Blaise stopped rubbing his chin. "I suppose I should go take a look." He smiled softly at her and held out an arm. "Walk with me?"
Winter blinked up at him in surprise. "Oh! Ah, certainly."
She carefully grabbed his arm, her cool touch frosting the burnished metal of his armour. Careful to weave between the rows (least they accidentally crush the wheat), they made their way over to the other side of the fields, where sure enough, not a smidgen of frost graced the stalks.
"See?"
"Huh. That's...okay. I mean. It's not okay, obviously, but I didn't think "land stealing conspiracy" would be on the list this fast."
"But you expected it?"
"It wouldn't of surprised me. At any rate, I'll have to work on this after the check in." He rubbed his chin again. "And I'll have to figure something out for the short term."
"Perhaps, in the interim, there's something I can do to help? I'm sure one of my sisters can move the wheat consequence free while you get this sorted. This way Jeremiah doesn't have any loss? Lady knows what Neo would do if he knew we were on to him."
Blaise's hand stilled. "Oh? You think your sisters would be able to do that?"
"Oh, please. They have this very strange soft spot for me. They would quite literally do anything for me."
"Even Spring?"
"...sometimes. And if not, I can be, ah, very persuasive."
Blaise laughed. "I believe it. Are you feeling okay?"
"Quite all right. Why do you ask?"
"Your hair is melting."
She flushed, her free hand reaching up and touching her very thawed roots. "Oh! Well. That happens sometimes."
"Oh?"
"Yours is literally on fire. And I've been near you for a good moment now."
"I see," Blaise replied. (He did not, in fact, see).
"I'm sure you do. Now, you don't think it's too late to talk to Jeremiah, do you? I'd like to apologize to him and let him know one of us seasons will be on it post haste. He and his family are probably asleep, though, aren't they?"
"We'll go take a gander. He said he'd been seeing you these past few nights, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was still up."
"Very well." Winter tightened her hold on his arm. "Lead the way."
Seconds after they came into view of the small house, Jeremiah popped out the back door, clicking it shut quietly behind him, candle in his hand. "Your Highness! And Your Snowiness!" Frazzled, he bowed twice, his hair nearly catching fire.
"Oh, no need for formality, really. It's much too late in the night for that. And pardon my intrusion. I hope I didn't wake you?"
"No, of course not your, uh. Season-y-ness."
"Just Winter is fine, please. Don't fret. Sorry for the crop fright. I've touched base with Prince Blaise," she gestured towards him, as though her hand wasn't still looped around his arm. "And we think we've figured out the issue. It's all a little hush hush right now, and we'd both appreciate your discretion."
"Of course. Whatever you need."
"Now! In the interim! About your crops! Unfortunately I cannot control the frost that seems to have made itself cozy in your fields. But! My sisters can control the wheat! I'll talk to them and we'll be by in the next week or so to move the crops over to a portion of land that is not being assailed by frost."
"Oh, well, that sounds nice and all, but the unplanted fields are to remain fallow this year, y'know, to replenish the soil and the. And the like." He scratched the top of his head nervously.
"Oh, I'm familiar with the idea, yes. Of course, my sisters are more well versed in it and my mother is, of course, the expert. We can take care of replenishing the soil just this once while we work on the frosty problem back there."
"Really?"
"Of course! Our duty is to maintain balance and help the people, sir. You are one of those people."
"But I'm just a farmer—"
"Ah, pish posh! You are a denizen of Crystal Springs same as any of us, castes be damned."
Blaise guffawed. Jeremiah blanched.
"Does that work for you, Jeremiah? And would your highness be alright with this arrangement?"
"I believe Jeremiah's fields actually supply the castle, too, so yes, absolutely. This'll give me some time to confer with the King and Queen and see if we can get to the bottom of the land issue."
"Then that's settled! Jeremiah, I will be in touch. You best be off now. It's late and you have kids, do you not?"
"Yes ma'am. Two. Very little, quite rambunctious. Give the wife and I a run for our money some days."
Winter laughed. "Then you best be getting some rest. Worry not." She placed a gentle hand on his forearm. "The Seasons and I will take care of your crop issue, okay?"
He nodded, stifling a yawn. "Yes ma'am."
"And really, just Winter is fine. Now then! Off you go!"
Nodding once more, Jeremiah turned around, letting out a proper yawn as he made his way back inside the house. The pair waited for a moment until the final light glowing in the back of the house went out.
Winter hummed. "That takes care of that, then."
"You are a very impressive woman. Have I ever told you that?"
"Haven't the foggiest," she lied, smiling up at him coyly. "I do apologize for taking charge their, ah, your highness."
"Pfft. Don't! Please. I…it’s nice to not have to be all formal and what have you. Can I escort you anywhere?"
"No, I best be off. I've only just started my rounds, you know! There's a whole half of the globe waiting for me tonight beyond these healing waters."
"Globe?"
"Yes. My job takes me all over it, Blaise."
"Huh. I guess it would, wouldn't it? I just...I never really thought about it, you know?"
Winter watched as Blaise looked thoughtful. Smiling to herself, she let out another little hum, tugging on the arm she still held captive. "Perhaps I can escort you to your lodgings for the night?"
"Oh, no need! But I'd ah, appreciate the fine company on the walk."
"Lead the way, then. And do elaborate, if you please."
"Elaborate? How?"
"You've never thought of the world beyond Crystal Springs? Ever? At all?"
They took the path that Pyros had trodden hours earlier, heading straight into the heart of the town instead of hanging the left to the tall purple tower in the distance, where the windows glowed with light, magic sparking right out the chimney. The Royal Guard patrolled the street, local guards in tow the closer they got to the centre.
"No. Never."
"Not ever?"
"Well...okay, maybe I'm a bit of a liar. I have thought about it. But I've been taught all my life that it's unsafe, y'know? As most of the people are taught. That ordibeings would hunt us for our magic again the moment we left the safety of the Springs. So I try not to think about it, and I try to enjoy the cross-continent trip here every time we're sent out. It's nice to remember that there are places, beautiful places that exist outside the castle walls. To remember why Pyros and I are doing what we're doing."
"And even more beautiful places exist outside the continent! Beyond the oceans and the icebergs. There are a whole different set of stars on the other side of the globe at night! It's amazing. It's beautiful."
"And dangerous."
"Sometimes, yes. But not as bad as it was during the Wild Magic era. Most ordibeings have their own set of beliefs and their own versions of magic; they don't really need ours. Oh, they have stories, of course. But to them, they are simply stories and I'd wager that were we to venture out of Crystal Springs...we'd be okay. I mean, my sisters and I are! So is my Mother, and we're out of the continent nightly practically! And the Legendary Figures, they're all quite all right, the ones who roam about."
"Yeah, but they're Legendary Figures!"
"So?"
"I mean...they have more power at their disposal; they don't need to worry when they go out. But we do. That's why we were brought here, right?"
"So the history books say. But that's the thing, Blaise. It's history. We're very stuck in some ancient ways here, when you think about it, and I know you do."
He was silent as they approached a cozy main street, taverns and inns still lit up for the night, though the music had ebbed and silence had descended.
"Look, Blaise. I go beyond the Springs and I'm not a Legendary Figure."
"But you're a season."
"And technically, so are you, you know. We're the same type of sprite! Seasonal as opposed to elemental."
"I know, but I wouldn't want to step on Summer's toes. I wouldn't be allowed to."
"Says who?"
"Who do you think?"
Winter scoffed. "Ah, they're old. Very stuck in the old ways. Sometimes I think that's a bad thing."
"...Sometimes I think so, too. I mean. Mom and Dad are all about power and they interlink it with safety all the time! And when we're out here, I don't have to think about all that! And Pyros stops thinking about it too and it's kinda nice, you know? I mean, they've been here and in power for thousands of years. To think the world is still the same is...insane!"
Winter laughed. "Tell me something, Blaise. Would you still sneak out for me?"
Blaise blinked. "Oh. Most definitely. Between you and me, your snowiness," he leaned in, close to her ear. "I hate being in the fucking castle all the time."
Winter laughed. "I can't believe the magic let you get away with that!"
"I'm that passionate about it! That's why I love these outings so much! I'm not in the castle and," they came to a stop, Blaise spinning her about as the guards in front of the nicest inn in the sector stood to attention and dutifully looked away. "I get to see lovely people like you."
"Well, maybe you should accompany me out one of these days."
"Out like out out? Like out there?"
Understanding the sudden need for less words, Winter nodded. "Oh yes."
Blaise paused, fighting back a grin. "I think I'd like that. A lot."
"Oh, brilliant!" Clearing her throat as the guards shifted, Winter stepped back. "Thank you for the escort, your highness," she said, dutifully casting her eyes down and curtsying most graciously.
"Of course, your snowiness. It was my pleasure," he replied, placing his arm across his chest and bowing back. "Be safe tonight."
"Of course. And good luck on your travels."
Nodding at one another (and biting back grins something fierce), Blaise watched as Winter turned on her heel expertly, fully thawed tresses bouncing about. She nodded most graciously to the royal guards (the few that had been giving the Prince a moment of privacy as best as they could clanking as they stood to attention, scrambling to salute) and disappeared on the spot, the smattering of snowflakes left in her wake drifting down his way.
He gazed goofily up the street, maybe for a bit too long, only coming to his senses when one of the guards beside him cleared his throat. Straightening up, he waved (the guards happily standing down) and walked up the path and into the inn as regal and posh as possible, only dropping the act and grinning to himself when he closed the door to the inn shut behind him.
"And at what time do you think this is? And looking like THAT?!?!? And WHAT is IN your ARMOUR?!!"
Blaise frowned in quite the over-dramatically grotesque manner, one eye squinting in distaste as he plucked a tiny bit of wheat out of his couter. He held it up in front of him, Marv an angry purple blur behind it.
"It would appear to be wheat, Marv."
"And why is there wheat in your armour?"
"Because I was doing my do diligence and investigating a wheat problem in the fields."
"Hmm." Folding a napkin, he got up gracefully, surveying the prince with an unamused look. "And are you sure you acquired it like that? And not, per chance, tousling around in fields with a certain high ranking season?"
Blaise glowered. His hair burnt taller and hotter. He flicked the wheat away, approaching Marv at his full height. "I would appreciate it, Marvin, if you would refrain from using such crude language when talking about any of the seasons."
"And I would appreciate it if you made it easy to be your steward."
Blaise rolled his eyes, hair dimming. "I'm not the one you should worry about, Marv." He stepped around the drow, heading towards the stairs. "You and I both know that." He paused by Marv's table, grabbing a bun from the small bowl of bread in front of him. "You're not staying up to wait for him, are you?"
"Indeed I am."
Blaise snorted, half chewed bread going flying. "He's not coming back here for the night."
"I beg your pardon?"
"He'll spend the night with the castor."
"No he will not."
"Yes he will." Blaise spun on his heel, clanking up the first two steps. "So you MIGHT AS WELL get some sleep. You're so grouchy when you don't."
Marv's undignified yell gave Blaise great satisfaction as he bounded up the stairs, polishing off his pilfered bread and ducking into his room (one of two heavily guarded doors). He chuckled to himself, throwing off the armour (the burnished metal casually floating itself into a neat pile) and the layers underneath until he was left in nothing but his briefs. He slid into bed, arms behind his head as he thought of the world outside the healing waters and well beyond the floating icebergs.
---
The morning dawned bright and early, as it was wont to do in the early fall. Outside, the grass was crisp; a fresh layer of frost slowly melting as the sunlight hit it.
Up and at 'em and fully armoured once more, Blaise bounded down the stairs, barely able to withhold his snort when he saw Marv snoring at his table, head on his arms. Carefully, he pried a napkin out from under the bread basket, conjuring a pencil and writing something down very fast. Satisfied, the pencil disappeared and Blaise crumpled the napkin in his fist, sliding up to the counter top and clearing his throat.
Marv shot up. "Gah! Your Highness!"
"Morning Marv! I guess he didn't come in last night, huh?"
Marv cleared his throat, stepping up and righting his table. With a wave of his hand, his robes straightened themselves out, his hair looking less bedhead-y and nice and neat. "I am…unsure."
"Mm. That checks out. Ah! Tilly!"
The barkeep let out a meep, rushing to curtsy. "How can I help ya, your highness?"
"I was just wondering if there was a washroom I could use down here." He glanced over at Marv surreptitiously. The Drow was distracted, talking to Kira, the chief of security. With a flick of his wrist, Blaise slid the crumpled napkin towards the barkeep, glancing down at it and back up at her.
Catching his gaze, she reached out and uncrumpled the napkin. Her eyes skimmed the words quickly, brightening as she finished reading the hastily scrawled message. "Ah! Of course! It's just behind the staircase! There's a hallway. Make a right, and it'll be right on the end."
Blaise grinned. "Thank you, Tilly."
She bobbed her head. "Of course!"
Chuckling to himself, Blaise grabbed the crumpled up napkin, crushing it up in his palm and reducing it to ash. He followed her instructions, grinning when he turned the corner and sure enough, there was the back exit, door wide open as staff brought in the groceries for the day.
Excusing himself politely, Blaise scrambled around the staff, ignoring the scrambly bobs as he looked up and down the street for any sign of his counterpart.
There was none.
Avoiding the front of the inn, Blaise put out his hair, blending in with the crowd as best as he could and reaching out with his mind.
He was close. Just coming down the path and turning towards the main street.
Blaise rushed past the taverns, turning up the street (briefly skidding), relieved when he saw Pyros coming down the path. His gaze was intensely focused on an object in his palm as he headed down the way, looking very, very dishevelled.
Hey. Hey. Hey. Look up.
Blinking, Pyros looked up, making eye contact with Blaise, who was grinning maniacally and waving boisterously, in Pyros's very humble opinion.
I didn't realize you could wave as loud as you could speak.
Blaise laughed, bounding up the street and coming to a stop beside Pyros, turning on his heel and falling into step. I am a sprite of many talents! He smirked, his hair lighting up with a soft whoosh. We have a problem.
We do?
Well, you do. Blaise cleared his throat, pointing to the bottom corner of his own mouth. "You got something there. What is that, Jam? Jelly? Ketchup? Dye?!"
"I've yet to wash up. Figured I could do that in whatever rooms Marvin secured for us and have a nice breakfast before getting down to business."
"Not to be confused with the business you have obviously already gotten down to."
Pyros glanced down at his outfit. It was...wrinkled; dishevelled. The, uh...dye (lip paint. It was 100% lip paint) was smudged on his face AND his hands, he realized, and Lady only knew where else! His outfit was covered in magical residue and glitter that seemed very not magical. "Okay, and? What's your point?"
"Marv knows you didn't come in last night. Your royal hinny is screwed and not in the fun way I imagine it to have been last night."
"I would appreciate it if you didn't imagine my royal hinny in any capacity whatsoever."
Blaise snickered. "It's not literal."
"Good."
"Thankfully! My royal hinny is very clever and very suave and snuck out to intercept you which thank the LADY I did because voila!" Blaise snapped his fingers, and Pyros was suddenly looking as pristine as he would've had he gone home and done his morning toilette before emerging for the day. "All fixed up, and now it'll simply look like we are walking back to town together, having gotten up to none shenanigans whatsoever last night."
Pyros flashed him a wry smile. "Really? None shenanigans? From you?"
"None whatsoever."
"That'll be the day. And oh, there he is. Right on time."
"Brace yourself. I already had my lecture. He's had all night to think of yours."
"WHERE have you BEEN!" Marv marched down the street, three guards behind him, Kira at his side. "I turn around for one second and you disappear—"
"Very unwise, Blaise."
"And YOU! I leave you alone for a night and you DON'T come HOME?!"
"I was busy!"
"Yeah you were. Grrrr—oof."
Blaise rubbed his stomach as Pyros retracted his arm, standing at full height and looking down his nose at Marvin. "As you were well aware, Marvin, we had a sticky—" (a pause for Blaise's snort and another whack, on the chest this time) "—situation to find a solution for. And since Blaise requested it to be non-lethal, it required a bit of an…intense magical research session."
"You could've sent a letter! A scry, a fireball literally ANYTHING! You are a prince! The both of you! If something happened to either of you that would be very very bad all around."
"Ah, please. We can handle ourselves."
"And if anyone did anything to Blaise short of killing him, they'd give him right back. Ten minutes, tops."
"They'd give you back in five."
"Is that a challenge?!"
"NO! There will be NO challenges of this particular sort!" Marvin pinched the bridge of his nose. "I am just looking out for the two of you. And if the both of you MUST mess about in the evenings at least elicit some decorum and for Goddess's sake let me know."
"Mess about?" Pyros raised an eyebrow at Blaise. "None shenanigans, eh?"
"None whatsoever."
"Hm. How's Winter doing?"
"Very well, thanks."
"Lady help me. At LEAST you are presentable, Prince Pyros."
Blaise flashed him a smug look. Pyros sighed. Thank you.
His twin grinned. Anytime.
"Feel better, Marv?"
"There is nothing short of an overnight stay at the springs that could make me feel better."
"We'll add it to the itinerary for you. So! Pyros! How'd it go?"
"Very well! We managed to isolate the sticky bit of the pygmys and extract it from them, reducing them to harmless little fluffy. Things. As for the sticky secretion, Prisma had the delightful idea to isolate it and use it to make a new kind of adhesive. She wants to test it first, so we only have the one at present.” He lifted the object in his hand—an unmarked tube. Also slightly covered in glitter. “She'll be joining us shortly to do just that."
"Where is she now?"
"Placing little sticky absorbing devices across town. This way, should the pygmys start secreting once more, the devices will use the magic we imbued within them to take it right off and store it."
"And the pygmys?"
"Can now bounce around no more harmful than, say, a tumbleweed or Blaise when you wake him up too late in the day."
"Hey!"
"He's right, your highness."
Blaise made an undignified sort of moaning and or groaning sound in his throat. "Whose side are you on here, Marv?"
"Mine. And it is a lonely, fruitless side, let me tell you. Now then. We've much to discuss and itinerary changes to make so, let's go eat and then go about our day. I shall have a setting put out for this castor of yours, Prince Pyros."
"Very good."
"Shall I set one for her snowiness, Prince Blaise?"
Now Pyros grumbled while Blaise held back a snort. "No, no. That, uh, won't be necessary. She'll be coming by at a later date to touch base with the tenant whose fields are frosting over. She's, uh, not joining us for breakfast." He scratched the back of his neck, sheepish.
Pyros smirked. “You’d like that though, wouldn’t you.”
“Immensely.”
“Shame we can’t switch.”
“Alas! She is a season, not a talented castor.”
Deciding against chiding the pair of them for their silly little banter, Marvin pressed his fingertips together. "Hmm. Very well. Come along, you two."
Clapping, Marvin set back towards the inn, hands behind his back, head held high. The detachment of guards that had surrounded him now surrounded the Twin Princes, ushering them forward while preventing them from backtracking or making any other attempts to escape and or engage in tomfoolery, as it were. After all, they had a schedule to keep. Rounds to continue on and issues to address. Being behind simply would not do. Not for Blaise, not for Pyros, not for Marv or any other members of the royal detail that'd been sent out to keep the peace, as it were.
---
Days later the Twin Princes found themselves once more shut into their carriage, both boys looking out the window with similar, thoughtful frowns. The carriage rumbled on, rain splattering the rooftop as the sun shone brightly.
Thoughts in faraway places well beyond the sun showery path before them, Blaise let out a melancholy sigh.
"Hmm. That's not good. You're usually rearing to get to the South."
"I do love me a good beach."
Pyros smiled to himself, glancing back out the window. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
He could ask mentally. Didn't even need to ask; could just pop on into his head and figure it out for himself. It's not like he blocked his end of their connection; neither of them did.
But it was a lot more fun to outright ask.
"Hey, Blaise."
"Mm."
"What're you thinking about?"
Success! His twin smiled through the hand pressed onto his face, the severity dropping and revealing the more carefree brother he was used to. "Land disputes. You?"
"Pygmys."
"Pygmys?"
"Pygmys. See, here's the thing." He leaned forward in his seat, hands folded between his knees. "The word pygmy is just that! A word! It usually denotes something smaller than the regular. And they used it to describe those small fluffy things."
"What would you call them instead?"
"Hmm. Don't know. Fluffs? Fuzzes? Fuzzies? Fuzzballs? Furries? Furbies?"
"I don't like that last one."
"Nor do I. Furby sounds like it could be a curse word. Like, a good and proper curse you'd cast, not a cuss word." He paused briefly, taping his nose. "Now, here's the thing. If the word pygmy denotes a smaller version of something, it begs a question."
Blaise dropped his hand from his face, giving Pyros his full, undivided attention. "Go on."
"If these pygmys are called that by the locals simply because they are small, is there a bigger pygmy? A giant pygmy to rule them all? A fuzzball the size of both of us?"
Blaise laughed, a right and proper loud laugh. "Maybe that's why they're so sticky? Maybe it's because they stick together and make a big ol' clump of fuzzball and THAT'S the one fuzzball to rule them all!"
Pyros lit up. "Ou! I didn't even think of that possibility! Now, IF that's the case, where is it? Where does it reside? What does it want? And should we find it?"
"Or will it find us..."
Now Pyros found himself snorting, the pair of them laughing up a storm to out storm the sun shower outside.
The carriage rumbled on, bringing the princes closer and closer to their next stop, their laughter echoing about the entourage. Guards perked up; Blaise's horse whinnied happily, trotting up to the window and trying his best to shove his little head into the carriage with them.
On the covered seat of the carriage, Kira chuckled, elbowing Marvin gently.
"You gotta admit. It's nice to see the two of them getting along and in such high spirits."
"Kira, if I admit that, I am sure it will be my downfall. I have a reputation to keep, you know. Lady only knows what'll happen if I destroy it. All my credit!"
She laughed. "Of course, of course. Goddess forbid."
She looked away, smiling to herself, because even Marvin could not hide the slight smile their jovial (and, quite frankly, very unbecoming of their station, if you asked him) hooting and hollering brought to his face.
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ask-spooky-manor · 1 year ago
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Music Taste!!!!!
PLEASE.
i need 2 know what they listen to in ur HC!'s. Ty :)
[it can be just Toby, or whoever you want.]
Toby: Punk, all the way. The louder and angrier, the better. He does like a little of everything but he more gravitates to artists like Destructo Disk or GRLwood
Tim: Folk music. He needs something that can get his brain off reality for a few minutes, and the soulful sounds of Hozier or the more epic bravados of The Amazing Devil help. He also really likes Johnny Cash if the poster in his room says anything. He also loves musicals, but that will go to his grave (if he wan’t immortal)
Brian: Unironically likes country and everyone makes fun of him for it, but he will swear up and down that there are some good ones out there. Dolly Parton is his queen, his idol
Jeff: Has a soft spot for classical music like your Midnight Sonatas cause he took piano really young. Performing for the family is one of the few happy memories he has of his parents. Aside from that, he has no other preference other than a strong devotion for My Chemical Romance
Ben: Video game soundtracks obvi obvi. They can chill on the floor and listen to all of the Undertale soundtrack for hours. Though outside of that they adore chill, lofi hip-hop
EJ: Metal!!! Like Toby, Jack likes his music loud and angry though he prefers the more epicness that comes from metal like Fleshgod Apocalypse than punk music which often sound like it comes from amateurs playing in their garage (affectionate, I love punk)
Clockwork: Easy: your classic emo phase music. I’m talking My Chemical Romance, Pierce the Veil, Panic at the Disco before it went bad, Fall out Boy. Did I get that right? Idk, I never had an emo phase
Jane: Latin Pop but not like the modern stuff. I mean Gloria Trevi’s earlier music and Selena. Her mom basically worshipped Gloria Trevi, and Sunday mornings always had Jane wake up to those artists on blast as mama Richardson did her weekly cleaning of the house.
Nina: Literally any song that was in those early 2010 animation memes that you’d see on Youtube and also Vocaloid. But she likes the really fucked up Vocaloid songs like the classic Alice Human Sacrifice or Late Night Madness
Sally: MLP songs…totally not related but Sally is not allowed to use the internet-
Slender: Like super great grandfather like super great grandson, Slender also likes musicals and unlike Tim, he is not ashamed of it.
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letswrites · 4 months ago
Text
C.L- Never be the same
Masterlist
Synopsis
Playlist
Chapter 1
-----------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 2: airports and dirty dancing
November, 2023
Newark, New Jersey, USA.
She couldn't hate anything more than she hated airport's lounges. Why wait so much to catch a plane? Why do they always say "come 3 hours earlier to check in" if check-ins take less than 3 hours to be done? Stupid airlines. At least she had company: Lando Norris. They were in Newark, New Jersey, he was heading to the United Arab Emirates, she was too, her winter vacation was going to be hot in Dubai that year. Their meeting wasn't an accident, Lando informed her about his stopover in the city next to hers, and she, for some reason, booked her flight to that same airport. They didn't get the same plane, tho. Her flight time was an hour later than his but they had a little time together at that insignificant airport lounge."Seems someone isn't here today" his voice called her. She didn't move from the spot she was staring at "If you are alright blink once. If I must call the ambulance because you got paralyzed don't blink" she tilted her head and turned to him "if I were paralyzed how would I blink?" "Exactly" she chuckled "hey, you are socializing!" "Sorry" she sniffed, "Just wanna get into the plane and sleep like a rock" "if you want to start your adventure now..." he sat closer to her "... My shoulder is all yours" she smiled without showing her teeth, warming his heart, he loved when she was sincere. She hasn't been very sincere lately "thank you, mr. Norris" she stood up and kissed his face "I will hop into the cafeteria first. Want anything?" "what are you having?" "Iced coffee" "how do you intend to sleep if you are taking coffee?" "I am immune to caffeine" "so why drink coffee?" "Tastes good" she shrugged, he laughed "you're very complex person" "I know that" I would like a latte and a doughnut, please" "Which flavor?" "Jelly" "okay, be back in a minute”
"Porte quatre, porte quatre..." Pierre mumbled to himself, struggling to find the correct gate, so when he saw Lando, sitting with his headphones in his head, he felt nothing but relief "please tell me this is gate 4" the British man places his headphones on his neck and opened a bright smile "Gate 4 and driver number 4" "Enfin!" Lando chuckled "Are you good, mate?" "I am now" he placed his bag on a chair and tugged in there his passport "Is not easy to find a gate on a foreign country with a Japanese lad hanged on your hair" "Yuki?" "Yeah" "Where is he?" "What do you mean?" the French guy turned around to see his former teammate knelled on the floor, wearing a shoe he probably lost on the way "cette putain de merde..." Lando laughed to the scene of Yuki running with his bags to reach Pierre and the other standing with his hands on the hips, a feet tapping the floor quickly and repeatedly "I told you to stay close to me" "sorry, it was my shoe" "seems like you become a father" "I think so" "it was an accident!" "Why haven't I been invited to the party?" She showed up with a Starbucks cup in one hand and Lando's latte in the other with a bag between two fingers on the other "the party just started" "This is Pierre. She's Daniel's girlfriend's friend" "I thought I was your friend too!" "You are, for now" Pierre turned to her, stretching his arms to a handshake "Hi, nice to meet you" "Salut, plaisir. Comment allez-vous?" "Tu. S'il te plaît. Je suis pas mal. Et toi?" "Bien. Pourquoi t'es pas mal?" "Could be better" he came back to his bag "What happened?" "We got a bit lost" "We?" he stepped to the side "that's Yuki" he smiled like a child and stretched his hand out "nice to meet you" she shook his hand "I would say the same but you just placed your stuff where I was siting so..." he widened his eyes "oh my God! Sorry, I- I will take this out and..." "I am kidding! Is nice to meet you too" "but you were sitting here" "I can stand or sit on the floor. No big deal" "I can't let you..." "She can sit on my lap" Lando said. The trio looked at him "at least you rather sit on my lap, I think you can take the chair, Yuki" Pierre and she laughed "alright" Lando pulled her onto his lap, she giggled "Your doughnut. It only had glazed" "No problems. Thank you! Tell me how much it was so I can pay you back" "No, no. You don't have to" "Come on! I insist" "that's your problem. You don't have to pay me back" "Are you sure?" "Yeah" she could tell Lando was disturbed with that "You buy me something next time" "okay" his face muscles relieved "coffee?" "I am good, sweatheart" "okay" "Doughnut? "Sure! Glazed is my favorite flavor" "And it happened to be the only flavor left, huh?" she giggled "I swear to you" he smiled,  she wrapped her arms around his shoulders as they both carried on listening to the Alpha Tauri's and Alpine's pilots argue like a married couple while shared the doughnout.
Charles had his eyes off the phone for less than a second and the first thing he saw was her. She was smiling, laughing of something and the place she was sitting on didn't make him any happy. Nor her behavior with her new "chair". His gaze landed at Lando's hands: one was resting on her soft thigh and the other feeding her with a doughnut. Huh, disgusting thing. The doughnut and the scene which became even more worst when he noticed her fingers running through the McLaren's driver hair, caressing his curls as it was an ordinary thing. 
He couldn't feel less dirty: on his phone screen he had his girlfriend wishing him a good flight along with heart emojis and a warm 'I love you' and even so he was jealous of a person who didn't belong to him but he would give up of tons of things for it to be the opposite. And it got even uglier when he replied Alex with the same warm 'I love you'. Did he really mean that? The truth was he had been exchanging messages with her during the past 6 months. Without having any guts or rights to invite her to do something. He also knew Lando have been stopping by way too much in NYC which made him even more furious.
 "When did this happen?" he questioned himself "When did I become that person?" he continued, before greeting Pierre and Yuki. He knew that he must forget about it, but he couldn't  help but feel annoyed with them acting like that "where's Esteban by the way?" "He left yesterday" Pierre said, quite relieved "Oh! What about Daniel?" "I have no idea" Yuki answered focused on his videogame. She stretched herself "hey, Charles, am I invisible to you now?" "Oh, I wish" he thought "no! I was just about to greet you. Both of you, beautiful couple" he leaned and kissed her face, tapping Lando's back, friendly "we aren't a couple" she defensed herself "sure" he said with a disbelief tone "we really aren't" "I believe you guys" "she is taken already" Lando joked. Charles' heart stopped "With her job, of course" "That's true" Charles exhaled the air he was holding and said "Yeah! Me too. Not with my job, with a girl. A woman..." "we already know that..." Lando continued "yeah, just reaffirming" he talked in a rush, he sounded breathless, like he had ran a marathon, but it was only the anger taking control of his body in the same pace her nails lightly scratched Lando's nape "Charles, are you okay?" "Yeah!" he said almost shouting, out of control "I just had too much Redbull" " "Are you drinking RedBull?!" Lando asked, incredulous"yeah?! I just need to sit a bit" he placed his bag on the floor and sat down. "Hey" Yuki started "hum?" "will you be joining us in Abu Dhabi?" "Not Abu Dhabi, Dubai" "what are you doing in Dubai?" "I decided to take my ass to vacations" "so you are going on vacations and decided to spend your time with 4 guys in an airport lounge?" "I didn't ask for that" they looked at her "I mean, the lounge and waiting part, I like you guys" "why don't you join us at a night out tomorrow?" "What night out?" Lando asked "the one I am inviting you to. Pierre?" "I am there already" he said while ate his peanuts "What about the two of you?" "Well, I heard is close to Abu Dhabi" she grabbed her phone "Oh! Very close. Count on me, I'm a party animal, babe" "if she's joining, I'm in" "Charles?" "Hum… oui! Porquoi pas" Yuki looked at Pierre "Oui is yes, right?" "Yeah" "Great!".
//
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Why has he agreed with that? "Terrible idea" he looked himself in the elevator’s mirror, he could tell hundreds of reasons for not accepting. And he couldn't regret more when he saw her walking through the hotel pool, wearing a nice bubblegum-pink top tank blouse and ripped white jeans shorts and a pair of golden glittery flip flops. Her breasts were like perfect and firm pillows. No bra. Nipples were showing under the blouse. Her not too much but still toned thighs looked so squeezable and he prayed, oh he prayed, to not be seen by her. Sometimes it feels like Jesus, Buddha, Ali, Shiva, Dalai Lama, Papa, The Queen of England, Santa Claus, any sanctity, didn't exist cause the first thing she did was to direct her gaze to the bar behind him. Damn! He should have hidden. She smiled and waved, walking towards him. He smiled back and walked into her encounter as well "hey!" "Hi!" she hugged him, she smelled like vanilla ice cream and strawberry lip gloss the one he found at that club's floor in Miami. The one he would adore to taste. Directly from her lips. "you look nice" he let her go against his own wishes. He turned around showing his look, he wore a white shirt and beige shorts with a Lacoste salmon slip on shoe "thanks! You too" "Merci, monsieur" "De rien, mademoiselle" she got weak hearing him speaking French, it hurt more than anything on her core. She smiled, tho, when he offered an arm "Puis-je avoir le plaisir?" she tangled their arms "Sure!" he giggled. They walked to the bar where Pierre, Yuki and Pierre's girlfriend already were "Hey! There you are" "Where's Lando?" she asked, Charles frowned "I'm right here" he appeared from behind her and pulled her for a hug "I'll order some drinks. What do you want?" she thought "Something that tastes like Strawberry "I bet your lips does" Charles thought "Alright. Anything for you" she giggled "Can I join you, Lando?" "Sure, Char".
...
"So? Are you guys dating?" "What?! No. We told you" "Hooking up, then" "Not yet" "Lando" Charles leaned on the bar's counter "Can't you flirt with other girls?" "What?!" "There are so many girls that would like to be in your bed, can't you make them happy?" "Why can't I flirt with the girl I want?" "I don't like when you flirt" "Why not?" "I..." he cleaned his throat "I just don't like it. I know I have zero rights to say something like that but I just dislike it" Lando sighed "It's because of it that you freaked on the airport?" he nodded "Does your girlfriend knows?" "Not a single clue of her existence" "I see" "We are not doing anything but... I don't know. I don't have a clue why I asked you to not flirt with her. Just forget about it!" Lando touched his shoulder "I definetly won't stop flirting with her. At least not while you still have a girlfriend and she's out there single" That's fair" "But if you decide to flirt with her even in your condition... I won't put myself in between tha two of you" "Are you teeling me to..." NO! No, no, no. I ain't telling you to do anything. I'm telling you that I don't have a problem if we both hit on her. If we do, she's the one who should choose, you know? And if she chooses you, I can't do anything about it" Charles nodded "Okay" Lando poked the shouder he had his hand on , then turned to the bartender to grab the drinks leaving Charles with his mind poisoned by his ideas "Give me some help here, bro" "Sure"
 That night something happened. Something new for her: she saw a slightly drunk Charles. Maybe tipsy only. But one thing she was sure about: he was a very weak person for alcohol. "Bonsoir, madame 'je suis très ivre pour me souvenir de ton nom'. Comment allez-vous?" "I'm excited, mr. Lord Percival. And you?" he giggled "Moi, j'étais perdu, mais j'ai vous trouvé. Le feu dans ma noirceur" she giggled "You're too sweet" "And you are excited, hein? Why?" "I love a night out every now and then! Don't you love it?" "Ouais... De temps en temps" he stared at nothing. She smiled, he looked so cute when he got lost inside his own head "revenons à la drague..." she gasped "what?!" "Puis-je m'asseoir ici?" "That's your chair, Charles" "Sure... In this case, I'll sit here" she giggled "Ok" "Would you like a drink?" "Already have mine" she lifted her glass "Thanks anyway" "Je vous en prie" he lifted his own drink, sipping it "donc... Avez-vous quelqu'un dans votre vie?" She grinned "I don't. My job only. And you already know that" "Can you please play my game!?... S'il vous plaît?" she smiled "Ok. And you, do you have someone in your life?" "Oui. J'suis pris déjà" "So you can't flirt with me" "But I ain't sure if I'm happy in this relationship" her smile faded away, she frozen and her hands got cold "Anyway, do you have a girlfriend?" He nodded "So you don't flirt with me!" "Ok, ok. Je te drague plus" she sipped her drink "You said you are not sure, huh?" "Eh... I'm but from time to time I don't. We both spend so long apart... Well, that's complicated" "I see" "Anyhow... Would you like to dance?" "Yeah! Let's go" he gave a big sip on his drink "Alright, let's go!". At the dance floor, Charles couldn't be more lost "I never danced reggeaton before" "It's very easy. I teach you" she paused to think "You just have to move your hips like Shakira" she showed him "And rub your body on your dance partner's body" "Like that?" "Yes" he slightly rubbed his hips on her ass, she closed her eyes, feeling her legs shaking "What about now?" "Place your hands on my belly" he did "Like this?" "Exactly. And now we move" they did "Et voilà! We are dancing latin music" "That's nice. You're a good teacher".
...
They danced for 20 minutes "It was funny!" "That's true but I'm very tired. Might call it a night" "okay" he said disappointened. After saying goodbye to Pierre, Kika and Yuki she called herself an Uber "That's sad I can't say goodbye to Lando" "I deliver your message if I find him" "Thanks. You're an angel" but Charles was anything but an angel, he knew exactly where Lando was and made very sure that she wouldn't find him"Voulez-vous que je attends votre voiture avec vous?" she giggled "What?" "You" "Qu'est-ce qu'il y a?" "When you're drunk, you speak french. Formally" "I... I am not that drunk anymore. The dance made me feel better" she smiled "I would love if you waited with me" "Good" They had a silent ride till the hotel lobby. A true walk of the shame. "Sorry for flirting with you" "It's okay. You were just kidding, it's fine" "Yes, but..." she stopped in front of a glass door and he approched her "I wish it wasn't" she blushed "Char, I..." the tension between them could be cut with a knife "I've gotta go. Thanks for the night, have a good rest of it" she leaned up and kissed his cheek "wait" he held her arm. He felt guilty and she felt cheap. What was the worst? He hitting on her? Or she almost bending to it? "I..." "Charles, no" "Please... I'm sorry. So so sorry" "you have nothing to be sorry for" "I do have. I'm taken, I was drunk, had hit on you... I shouldn't have. I'm really sorry" "/ should be the one apologizing. You have a girlfriend, I knew that from the beginning. I don't know what happened, I would never dance like that with someone already taken" he locked his gaze on hers "but danced with me" "yeah..." She looked away "that's exactly why I'm so ashamed of myself". He reflected for a few seconds "Fine. We're both ashamed, both sorry, I accept your apologies, do you accept mine?" "Of course..." he exhaled "that's good" "But..." "Oh, no, no, no. No buts" "We should stay away from each other" "No..." "Yes. I ain't going to be in between your relationship, Charles" he looked to his feet "Charles..." "Hum?" "You know I care about you" "I care about you too. That's exactly why we shouldn't distance from each other" "it's exactly why we should" he sighed "I don't agree with that. I will text you as soon I land in Monaco" "who said I will reply?" he smirked "You will, I know you will. Tu peux pas résister à moi" she blushed "well, I..." He smiled "just keep an eye on your phone" he winked at her "bye, Charles” "Bye…” he waved at her before she opened the door and left. He wanted to walk out the door but his girlfriend's face kept him from doing that. Instead, he tucked his hands in his shorts pockets and made his way back to the elevator, pressing the button without being sure of anything but where he was going to spend the rest of the night: at the bar.
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kickingitwithkirk · 11 months ago
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Restless Man Pt II
Summary: Beau Arlen finds himself in the middle of a case with more twists than a country road.
Pairing: Beau Arlen x Reina Cetanwakuwa-Stanley
Word Count: 1681
Warnings: cursing, show level violence, derogatory remarks (some in native languages) poisoning, murder
A/N: The inklings for this started the first time I heard Jensen singing Restless Man. This work is partially from historical information and canon elements from the Big Sky series.
*Set after the series finally 3:13 That Old Feeling.
A/N II: All Native American words/sentences in this part are Lakota resourced from freelang.net and glosbe.com *some algorithmically generated on these sites.
*Translation:  lala -grandfather  Cetanwakuwa -attacking hawk or to hunt and chase
A/N III: Biology isn't my strong suit, so all references likely have errors.
*divider by @firefly-graphics
*no beta -all mistakes are mine
Pt I masterlist
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5:30 AM
Arlen pulls into the bank's back park lot and spots Reina sitting on an old pickup’s hood. Parking next to it, he climbs out and with hands on hips snaps, “Why the hell are we here at this ungodly hour?”
“Look who’s running a quart low on civilized this morning.”
“What the hell does that even mean?” 
“It means you’re a grumpy asshole till you get some lead in your system.” Hopping off the hood, Reina hands him a to-go cup, “So fuel up Texas.”  Arlen catches a whiff of the fresh roast bouquet and a far more civilized thank you darling slips past his lips making her eyes roll. 
“And to answer your question being here at the ass-crack of dawn ensures what we're doing doesn’t get out any time soon. Oh, by the way, I flunked charm school so nothing stops me from being an asshole darling.”
***
The bank manager removed their key grumbling as they left. 
“Obviously, not a morning person either,” Arlen commented while pulling the large rectangular box from its cubby and placing it on the table opens its hinged lid revealing an assortment of documents. Picking up the top one he reads the contents. “This is a medical file dated almost eight months ago. Gerald started seeing a Dr. Johnson in Billings who ordered..wow, that’s a boatload of tests.”
Reina began reading over his shoulder, “This doesn’t make sense, Lala Gerald was healthy as a horse for a man his age and preferred the healer over western medicine.” Handing it to her he starts going through the others. “Found the test results. Great, it’s one of those percentages per whatever. Personally, I like the connect the dots ones.” She points to the first results. “These here are chemicals you’d normally find on a working ranch. They’re within the safe margins for exposure.” Arlen was surprised, “You know how to read this?” 
“What? You thought I was only a fabulous derrière?” 
Arlen tilted his head a certain way letting his expression say it all. “Man, you got that dad’s done with your shit look down pat!” He’s still unamused. “Okay, I worked for the mobile vet a few summers, taught me how to do work-ups on the livestock.” Reina goes back to explaining the results then pauses at the end. 
“Huh. These look like medicinals from the healer, but the lab could not identify all the plants used.” She gives Arlen a contemplative look, “You got anything on your plate this morning?”
“Nothing pressing Hoyt can’t handle. Why?” 
“I have an idea where to find out what these could be. Your truck or mine Texas?”
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Montana State University
Bozeman 
“Remind me again why we drove all this way?” A tense Arlen dodges another Twalking student in the crowded corridor. “Because these people won’t know me or my family connections like in Helena. Here we are,” Reina opens the door under the Biotechnology Department sign. 
“Dr. Newsom?” The person writing on a whiteboard turns. “Hello, I’m Sheriff Beau Arlen. Dean Wilson said you might be able to help with some toxicology report results.” 
Arlen hands over the file and the doctor skims over the pages, “I take it’s the last one set marked inconclusive you’re inquiring about?” “Yes. My partner here believes they might be compounded from some types of plants?” 
Newsom seemed impressed and wrote out the information on the board then stepped back studying it. “Would you mind if I called in another colleague to consult on this?”
***
Sometime later 
“Everything all right?” Reina inquires when Arlen walks back into the room. “Hoyt was checking in.” Retaking his seat, he hears her mutter, “Some things never change.” 
“What the hell does that mean?”
“That your girlfriend can’t stand not knowing where you are, who you’re with, and when you’ll be back.” 
“Hoyt’s my undersheriff.…” “…from what I hear, under in the literal sense.” “She’s not my girlfriend or significant other so what's your problem with her?” “It’s always been her problem. Never mine.” Newsom's colleague interrupts their terse discussion. 
“Your assumptions were correct. These here,” circling a few abbreviations, “Are used in many medicinal compounds by the local native healers. Unfortunately, we cannot identify what species they come from because we can’t find any record of the source materials.”
“Hypothetical question,” Reina says, “Could their source be something the People purposely choose not to share but still retain knowledge of how to create?” Arlen shoots her a quizzical look.
“Yes, that is a possible hypothetical. We know from early expeditions writings and verbal stories passed on among native inhabitants that much of their knowledge has been lost due to time and habitats, or intentionally hidden due to subjugation and indoctrination.”
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Arlen's thumbs' tapping became more intense and thirty miles down the road he suddenly detoured his vehicle, Pedro, onto a dirt track. “Umm, do you know whose road we’re on?”
“Not a damn clue! Call it Bob’s Road.”
“Hope Bob doesn’t take a shot for us trespassing.” Arlen slams on the brakes and cuts the engine before shifting in his seat to glare at her, “What with the wild goose chase?”
“Sorry, I don’t….”
 “Don’t bullshit me Reina! I want you to tell me the truth.”
“I needed confirmation.”
“Conformation of what?”
“That you weren’t in on it!” Arlen was taken aback by her insinuation. “You think I had a hand in Gerald’s death?”
“No, in its cover-up!” She climbs out slamming the door shut emphasizing how pissed she was.  “I don't know if you can be trusted AssButt!” A now equally pissed Arlen copies her.  “That why you pulled a subterfuge ‘bout being a Texas Ranger?” His question makes Reina whirl around as he continues. “I know a lotta Montanans still have this old west mentality regarding the law."
“Don’t turn this to be about me!” Reina yells stalking towards him, not stopping till she invades his personal space. "I know about your partner in Houston so let me ask you something. How'd drowning your guilt and shame in booze and other avenues work out for ya?” Arlen's eyes narrow. “Seems you ended up in the same place as every other motherfucker who takes that route. Leaving a trail of collateral damage in your wake including your family.” Arlen's low growl of Leave them outta this only makes her double down. 
“Your ex remarried some guy and moved three states away with your kid to escape the humiliation! And what did you do? You followed them up here like a dog with its tail,” Arlen surges forward, slamming his hands flat on either side of her head, pinning her against the truck's door. His heart hadn’t pounded this hard since trying his damnedest not to kill Buck Barnes for kidnapping his daughter when Reina did something most would consider not only insane but confused the hell outta him by leaning forward so close he could feel her breath caress his lips as she spoke. 
“I bet you’re weighing your options on whether to sock me or kiss me.” Arlen jerks back with such an incredulous expression it makes her chuckle, “I have that effect on people.” 
“No more bullshit Reina! Did you know what that report would say?”
“Had an inkling you helped confirm.” Reina sagged back against the door. “After I left Montana, Lala and I talked practically every day. I knew something was wrong around six months ago when he suddenly stopped video chatting.” She looked up towards the clear blue sky, “I couldn’t get leave. DPS had just sent me to the Del Rio sector to help track down cartel smugglers. You can’t fathom the shit they’re doing, what’s being covered up by the mainstream media and those fuckers in D.C.”  Reina swiped at her eyes.
“I had a few run-ins with cartel elements which was bad enough.” Arlen placed his hand on her shoulder, “I’m truly sorry you didn’t have the chance to say goodbye.” Reina nodded in gratitude, and he asked in a gentler tone, “Do you have any idea why someone would want to do away with Gerald?”
“Have you heard of the new housing development proposed north of the city?” Arlen acknowledged he has. “Did you know the day lala died, the developers submitted an impact study on expanding that small airport in Silver City?” Arlen looked confused. “Helena already has a good-sized airport...what a minute. Why would a suburb need its own airport? It wouldn’t unless it’s a guise for something bigger.”
“Like something that’ll eventually run from outside Helena’s city limits up to the foothills of the Flathead and Lewis and Clark national forests?” Arlen's brow furrowed, “Okay. Excuse me, I need a map,” he opened the passenger door and glove box retrieved one and moves to the hood. “I’m not really familiar with that area,” Reina reaches over, pointing to a smaller valley snug between the mountain ranges.
“Phase one is here. It’s proposed to expand the airport to accommodate more traffic and have its own charter service catering to the financially privileged.”
“Darling, if there’s one thing I know about people with money, they don’t like to be too far from their modern conveniences.” Reina raised an eyebrow, “Well Darling, the deal includes building a luxury resort which will increase the tax base so much it’ll price the current residents living there out so they’ll end up doing what?”
“Sell to the developers who’ll eventually build residences tailored for their clientele.” Arlen shakes his head in disbelief. “Wait, what’s in Phase Two?” Reina’s voice took on a serious note, “I need you to swear on whatever you hold sacred, you’ll keep this under wraps because I could go to jail for possessing this information.” Arlen holds out his hand, “I give you my word.” She takes his offered hand before pulling out her phone and showing him a picture of a scale model representing the future Helena Valley.
“How far would you go if one man was standing in your way of building the next metropolis?”
tbc
SPN TAGS: @donnaintx  @lyarr24  @flamencodiva  @lassie-bird @nancymcl  @spnbaby-67  @leigh70
Dean/Jensen:  @thoughts-and-funnies  @stoneyggirl2  @akshi8278  @beabutterfly987 @smoothdogsgirl
@deans-spinster-witch
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doobs · 10 months ago
Note
What bands/genre of music do you think each of the Nostromo crewmembers listen to?
Okay I love this ask. A lot. I love this question!!!
If you guys have other thoughts feel free to reply! I'd love to know what you all have to think!
---
Ash: Classical
Okay, for Ash I wasn't too sure, but then I was thinking about Walter/David (I forget which one) in Prometheus or Alien: Covenant, point is it was one of them, and they liked classical music. I figured it must be an android thing right? And so I thought, Bishop and Call would totally like classical music. For sure. Right? Anyway, I think for Ash I'll have to go with classical music. It kinda matches his whole vibe of admiring purity and all that, I think classical is a very 'pure' genre if that makes sense.
---
Brett: Reggae
Brett is such a chill guy. I had a few ideas for him, right, maybe he listens to blues? I thought that was a good idea. But then I had this super awesome memory that he wears a Hawaiian shirt. MY MAN TOTALLY LISTENS TO REGGAE. C'mon. He totally vibes to reggae music, he's just that guy. In a good way.
---
Dallas: Rock n' Roll or Jazz. Not sure.
At first I didn't really know. Right now I'm thinking about it haha. So, I'm thinking, he doesn't really show his emotions, even in the vents (I think?) when trying to hunt the alien all he said was 'get me the hell outta here' he wasn't really showing that much. So maybe he's a rock n' roll or heavy metal sorta guy? Usually people who like those genres are the quietest. But then I'm like... Dallas is totally a jazz guy! I just can't explain it. I dunno. Help me decide haha.
---
Kane: 70s
Kane is such a mellow fellow. Those two words specifically. I feel like Kane would enjoy drinking a cup of coffee while listening to 70s music. He's a David Bowie guy. 100%. Well, at least I think so? Haha. Maybe he'd listen to Fleetwood Mac too.
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Lambert: Country
This wasn't hard for me. Personally I wouldn't have picked this for her, but LOOK AT HER BOOTS. Look at them. They're cowboy boots. Let's all think about that. Yes? Yes. And I know that people are all 'just because you wear cowboy boots doesn't mean you like country music!! 🤬', but golly gee does it increase those chances.
---
Parker: Hip hop
My boy Parker 10000% listens to soul, blues, R&B, reggae my boy's a sucker for music of black descent. But his one shining star is definitely hip hop. I know some people are gonna be like 'that's offensive 🤬' but c'mon now. C'mon. Parker is like the most black black guy we know. Not even Apone in Aliens was on his level. I actually think it's fantastic. Unapologetically true to himself! But I do think he'd like hip hop more. Oh and he also tries to convince Brett to listen to something other than reggae but Brett's like nah.
---
Ripley: i'm biased so she listens to rock n' roll but also 70s with Kane
Okay so I'm probably very biased (completely biased) because Ripley is my favourite crew member. I love her so much. She's just amazing. ANYWAY- I think Ripley listens to rock n' roll while petting Jonesy. And yes that is my favourite genre but I honestly had no idea with Ripley. Actually I think she listens to 70s music with Kane sometimes. That's cute.
---
What did you think? This was stressful making this hahaha.
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makiruz · 9 months ago
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I like Pop, but I agree with Delta, Poppy's mashup IS a crime against music
Cooper is so adorable. I want one
So Smooth Jazz is Jazz, but to what family Jazz belongs to?
Hip-Hop comes from Funk? I don't know anything about music
The Funk Trolls are so adorable. I want one, I want 20
What mean thing Barb has to say about Funk? I wonder
So, isn't KPop just Pop but in Korean? I'm saying because as far as I'm concerned Latin Rock is just Rock in Spanish, and stuff. Also, so Reggaeton comes from Reggae, where does Reggae come from? Both groups looks like Pop Trolls, so I don't know
Everyone looks so good in Rock fashion
We don't get to hear Barb deride Country and Funk, sad
Who are the King and Queen of Funk, because they have to be famous
Poppy gets a new outfit because she's the less fashionable Troll leader
Ah, Grisle and Bridget at the end! Almost forgot the Bergens were important
Anyway, I think World Tour is the best Trolls movie, at least better than Band Together; but we need more of the other tribes, specially the Classical Trolls, they seriously get no respect
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